Say Something
by myinuyasha04
Summary: When it was all said and done, Naruto thought that maybe she would have been better off staying alone. FemNaru. Gen. Team 7. Character death.
1. Chapter 1

**Note: This was my NaNo 2013 challenge! I am going through and editing as I break apart the chapters, but I may miss an error or two. Also, I guess I should give you fair warning, there will be a major character death in the distant future of this story. By that, I mean it'll be near the end of this story and since I only have about half of it planned out, it'll be quite a while.**

**Also, there are no pairings in this story. There will occasionally be peripheral romances or crushes, but it will never be the focus of this story.**

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_Chapter 1_

The morning sun shone through a small crack in the curtains to shine directly on a preteen girl's face. She squeezed her eyes more tightly closed against the bright light and threw the blanket over her head. Just as she was about to drift back into sleep, the alarm went off. The sound was blaringly loud and startled her badly enough that she fell off her bed to the cold floor.

"Shit…" she groaned, fighting with the constricting blanket that had come with her.

Uzumaki Naruto blinked brilliant blue eyes and yawned. She ran her fingers through sleep-mussed golden hair, scratching at her scalp with dull fingernails. The alarm continued sounding throughout the small apartment until Naruto leaned over to smack it with the palm of her hand. It creaked ominously, but held together.

The silence was almost oppressive after the deafening loudness of the alarm and Naruto sat on the floor for a moment, enjoying the quiet. Then she remembered exactly _why_ her alarm had been set and she scrambled to her feet.

She rushed through showering, not even bothering to wait for the water to heat, and reemerged from the bathroom with one towel wrapped around her body and a second one draped over her head.

Naruto picked her favorite orange pants and jacket up from the floor and grimaced at the holes that liberally decorated them. She had nearly forgotten how the events of last night had ruined her clothing, and completely changed her life. Although learning about the kyuubi in such a way was devastating, Naruto actually felt kind of glad for the fox's presence. It was probably the only reason she was still alive.

After failing the genin exam because of her inability to perform the _bunshin no jutsu_, Mizuki had approached her with a highly suspicious 'secret' way to graduate. Once she heard him out, Naruto had gone straight to the hokage for advice. The old man hadn't seemed surprised at the information, but thanked her for coming to him. When Naruto asked if she could do anything to help, the Sandaime's eyes gleamed as if he had been waiting for her to make the offer.

Naruto had waited at the meeting place with a dummy forbidden scroll, but when Mizuki showed up, he completely took her off guard by spilling the beans about the bijuu sealed in her gut and then proceeded to do his best to kill her. By the time Iruka found her, after having heard the false story that she had stolen the scroll, Naruto was severely wounded. The kindly chuunin had immediately jumped to her defense but had taken a massive shuriken in the back while trying to cover her.

Hearing Iruka defend her as a person rather than condemn her as the kyuubi like Mizuki wanted was one of the happiest moments of Naruto's life. It was if her wounds no longer existed and she was able to use the jutsu that she learned earlier that night. The massive amounts of shadow clones that Naruto produced convinced Iruka to honor's Mizuki's lie and pass her. Of course, Iruka didn't know that the whole thing had been arranged between Naruto and the hokage, and that she hadn't learned _kage bunshin_ from the scroll, but from the hokage himself as a reward for helping trap Mizuki.

Last night, when she had gotten home, Naruto had a few healing scars to show for the multiple wounds she had been given by Mizuki; this morning, her skin was smooth and unblemished again. Naruto was pretty sure that the kyuubi's chakra was to thank for that and she patted her stomach gratefully.

"Thanks for not letting me die, fox," she muttered, feeling foolish for even trying to communicate with the beast sealed within her naval. She wasn't really sure what to think of it. On one hand, the fox's presence was the cause for practically all of the villagers hating her guts, but the kyuubi had definitely saved her life and, according the hokage, was slowly increasing her already impressive chakra reserves.

Naruto threw aside her ruined clothing and dug through her battered wardrobe for something else to wear for the team assignments. She couldn't decide whether to be disappointed at the lack of orange clothing in her drawers or not. While orange was definitely one of her favorite colors, she really only wore that jumpsuit so frequently because it had been a gift from her mysterious godfather.

She had once asked the hokage why her godfather hadn't ever come back to the village to take care of her or even visit and was told that he filled a very important role for Konoha that required him to travel extensively across the other countries. The Sandaime had assured her that her godfather would eventually return to the village to train her. She was disappointed of course, especially given her less-than-satisfactory treatment by the villagers, but understood that part of being a shinobi was putting the village before your own needs.

So whenever Naruto received a gift from her godfather, she wrote a letter in return that she entrusted the hokage to send. She hadn't gotten a response yet, but she liked to think that her godfather enjoyed her letters. She _did_ have the sneaking suspicion that he thought that she was a boy, based on the types—and sizes—of gifts that he sent her, but that was nothing new. Naruto was also pretty sure that everyone in her class thought she was a boy, but had long decided that if they were dumb enough not to notice that she was female then she wouldn't bother to correct them.

She dug through her wardrobe and pulled out a pair of dark grey pants that cinched just below the knee and a pale blue shirt with elbow-length sleeves and an orange spiral on the back.

Naruto wrapped her chest snugly before pulling on a long sleeve mesh armor top and the blue shirt over it. Although there wasn't much for her to bind, she had learned to use the thick material to protect her developing chest. She found out the hard way that it hurt like hell to be kicked in the breasts, no matter how small they were.

After she finished dressing, Naruto returned to the bathroom to hang up her sodden towels and brush her teeth. She didn't normally bother with her hair, as she felt there were better things to do than spend time making it look perfect before she was about to go work up a sweat, but today a small part of her wanted to make a good impression on her new teacher. Her hair really was too short to do much, so she just combed out the tangles and allowed her bangs to fall softly across her forehead. The locks of hair in front of her ears were slightly longer than the rest, making her grin at her reflection. With her hair styled this way, she looked a bit like the Yondaime hokage, whose face she could see perfectly from her window. She tied her forehead protector on snugly and tapped the metal plate with satisfaction. Although her bangs fell across the headband, the engraved leaf symbol was still clearly visible.

"I'm one step closer, jiji…" she murmured before turning away from the mirror and heading for the small kitchenette.

Naruto choked down an almost-bad apple and a dry ration bar, easing the tasteless mass down her throat with the last glass of cold milk. She peeked through her cabinets and sighed at the lack of food. It was definitely time to go grocery shopping. Hopefully her new sensei wouldn't keep them too long today so she would be able to get some food before the shops closed.

After washing out her glass and setting it out to dry, Naruto strapped on her thigh and hip pouches. She double checked that they were fully stocked before sliding her feet inside the sandals by the door and leaving the apartment, making sure to lock up behind her. Slipping the key inside a small hidden pocket in her thigh pouch, Naruto steeled herself for the unpleasant walk through the village.

She would love to be able to jump across the roofs like the other ninja. She had tried once, a few years ago, and nearly killed herself when she slipped off the tiles. Naruto knew now, of course, that she probably wouldn't have died, but it was still painful enough that she hadn't tried again. Instead, she would have to walk through town where everyone pretended that she didn't exist until her back was turned, when the glares and hostile mutters began. She made a mental note to ask her new sensei first thing about the trick to sticking to the roofs.

By the time Naruto reached the Academy, she was tense and a little depressed. Even though she should have been used to it and now knew the reason for their behavior, she still felt ostracized and achingly lonely. Aside from a small handful, there were very few people in the village that even acknowledged her existence. She had a few buddies in her class, but they never seemed to want to hang out when school was over. Everyone else was either rude, demeaning, or both.

Naruto had carefully cultivated a cheerful and slightly idiotic reputation as a way to protect herself from the hateful jabs of her classmates and avoid suspicion from the adults, who were often afraid and angry when she seemed too strong or too smart. She certainly wasn't stupid, however, and after doing her best on the graduation exam, the hokage had told her that her other test scores were high enough that she should have graduated even without properly creating two bunshin. Mizuki had been in charge of the taijutsu and weapons portion, however, and had obviously done something to make Iruka think that she needed the bunshin to pass.

She decided to take a shortcut to the classroom, hopping through the window instead of going through the main entrance, and stifled a yelp as she landed directly on Uchiha Sasuke, who had unfortunately chosen the window seat this morning. They crashed to the floor in a tangle of limbs and the loud clatter of upturned chairs.

Sasuke's elbow caught her hard in the diaphragm on the way down and Naruto struggled to breathe. When she finally managed to suck in much needed air, she realized that someone was talking to her. She coughed and looked up into a pair of annoyed black eyes.

"Will you get off me?" Sasuke repeated, sounding extremely irritated.

Naruto's skin crawled as she registered their entangled legs and the way their torsos were pressed tighter. In a slight panic, she struggled wildly to free herself, only managing to get them both caught in the legs of Sasuke's upturned chair. She barely noticed the Uchiha's angry exclamation as she narrowly missed kneeing him in the groin.

Instead of freeing herself, Naruto only managed to attract the attention of the two girls who just entered the classroom. Both Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura shrieked furiously at the sight of their idol entangled with the village pariah and joined the fray, clawing at Naruto to get her away from Sasuke.

Having three people now touching and grabbing at her was too much for her and Naruto began to hyperventilate, her bright blue eyes opened unnaturally wide as she tried to fight off the two fan girls and get away from the Uchiha. She wasn't used to people touching her outside of the few glancing blows she received in taijutsu practice. Even the hokage rarely did more than a gentle pat on her head. In fact, other than the Sandaime, Naruto couldn't remember ever having received a kindly touch from anyone in her entire life.

"Hey! Break it up, you four!" Iruka's voice cut through the two furious fan girls' screeching protestations and the chuunin quickly pulled them all apart.

As soon as she was free, Naruto fled to the middle of the aisle to get away, wide eyed and breathing too quickly. She rubbed her arms, resisting the urge to use her nails to scrape at her skin. Iruka scolded Ino and Sakura, instructing them to sit on the other side of the room, and helped Sasuke to his feet. He turned a concerned look on the upset blonde and reached out to give a comforting pat on her shoulder, but Naruto jerked away from the contact.

"I'm okay, Iruka-sensei," she said a little too quickly, clenching her fists and trying to bring her racing heartbeat under control.

Iruka sighed, his soft brown eyes sad and filled with understanding. "I'm sorry, Naruto. Won't you take your seat?" He moved out of the row and gestured toward the empty seat at the end. Both Ino and Sakura started to protest loudly, but were silenced instantly by Iruka's scathing glance.

Naruto edged around him and sat heavily in the chair. She could feel Sasuke's curious gaze burning into the side of her face, but she stoically ignored it and focused on taking deep, calming breaths. When she felt a warm flush creeping up her neck, Naruto buried her face in her arms on the desk. She was completely mortified and hoped that the rest of the class didn't notice her near melt-down.

She could still feel someone staring at her; Naruto was certain that it was still Sasuke. She really wished that he would just mind his own business.

"…maki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke."

At the sound of her own name, Naruto looked up, realizing that Iruka had been talking up at the front of the classroom. And apparently announcing team assignments.

"You will be assigned to Hatake Kakashi," Iruka continued, glancing at Naruto before looking back to his clipboard. "Team 8, Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame…"

Naruto tuned him out again and frowned at the information she just received. Her new sensei's name sounded vaguely familiar, but she wasn't sure when or where she had heard it before. And she just _had_ to be on a team with Sasuke, of all people. Naruto wished that she had caught the name of her other teammate and she looked around curiously to see if she could guess by her classmates' expressions.

Sakura looked particularly ecstatic while Ino looked mutinous. It didn't bode well and Naruto bit back a groan of despair. She really hoped that she was wrong about that one. Having to deal with Sasuke and his holier-than-thou attitude was going to be trying enough, let alone adding one of his most rabid fans into the mix.

She peered through the corner of her eye to find Sasuke still frowning thoughtfully at her. Naruto dug her nails into her palm to staunch the rising irritation and turned to face him. "Please tell me that the pink one isn't on our team."

Sasuke's expression soured, giving Naruto the answer she had been dreading.

"Great…" she sighed, facing forward again and propping her chin on her fist. She tried to focus on Iruka's speech about ninja life, but the man really was accomplished at sounding as boring as possible.

He finally finished and opened the door to let a handful of shinobi into the room. Naruto perked up at the rather eclectic group of jounin. There were two women in the group and they looked badass enough that Naruto wished that one of them was her teacher even though 'Kakashi' was unlikely to be a women's name.

As each ninja left with the groups of three genin, anxiety fluttered in Naruto's stomach. When Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji followed behind the last jounin, a man who smelled strongly like an ashtray, Naruto glanced uncertainly at Iruka.

The man sighed and gave her a reassuring smile. "Your teacher will be… a little late," he explained, a pained expression crossing his face. "Why don't you three have some lunch and get to know each other a little better?"

Naruto's mouth twisted in distaste, but she turned to ask her new teammates to ask if they wanted to go to the ramen stand. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, Sasuke stood and slouched out of the room without a word.

"Sasuke-kun, wait for me!" Sakura called, scrambling out of her chair and hurrying after him.

Iruka winced in sympathy as Naruto let her head fall face down on the desk. "This team is going to suck…" she groaned.


	2. Chapter 2

**Note: Thanks everyone for the favs/follows!**

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_Chapter 2_

When all three genin returned to the classroom, they found that even Iruka had gone home and that Hatake Kakashi had yet to arrive. Sasuke resumed his customary position by the window, stoically ignoring Sakura's attempts to start a conversation. Naruto took advantage of all the empty seats and sat far away from her new teammates. As time slowly passed and another hour had gone by with no sight of their sensei, Naruto began to get a little jittery.

Her leg bounced impatiently and she gnawed on her fingernail. Naruto had a lot of chakra. A _lot_ of chakra. And she spent most of the day cooped up in a classroom. There was a faint crunch as she accidentally caught her nail between her sharp canines. Coppery blood coated her tongue and she jerked her hand away from her mouth, frowning at the cracked bleeding nail on her thumb.

She watched in slightly fascination as it healed within minutes and then jammed her hands in her pockets to resist the temptation to continue chewing her nails. Naruto lasted another fifteen minutes of trying to tune out Sakura's chatter before she stood, pushing away from her desk with frustration. Her abrupt movement caught the attention of her teammates, who both frowned at her.

Naruto ignored their scrutiny, hating them for looking at her like she was a pest to be exterminated. She hopped lightly down to the front of the classroom and began to pace quickly.

"What are you doing?" asked Sakura distastefully.

"I can't sit still any longer," Naruto admitted.

The pink haired girl rolled her eyes. "I don't know why you can't just control yourself. _Sasuke-kun_ doesn't have any trouble waiting patiently."

"He's probably just entertaining himself with ways to make you shut up," Naruto grumbled under her breath. She then said more loudly, "if you ever bothered to pay attention to anyone other than Sasuke, you would remember when we tested chakra capacity this year."

"What does _that_ have to do with anything?" Sakura asked flippantly.

Naruto bared her teeth in a semblance of a smile. "The _point_ is, I have more chakra than everyone in the entire class combined, _including_ the teachers."

As Sasuke glanced over at her with sharp interest, Naruto's mood soured even further. Apparantly _no one_ paid any attention to her if this was news to him. Iruka had been so shocked at her results that he called in two other teachers to confirm her chakra capacity.

"Yeah right, dead last," Sakura scoffed, turning her back on the blonde with a huff.

Naruto's gut clenched as she fought back anger and hurt feelings. She took a deep breath as she paced away from the pair by the window. By the time she turned back at the door, she had managed to regain her usual pleasant expression. Propping her hands on her hips, she stopped by the desk her teammates shared.

"I didn't place last, Sakura," she said lightly. "After the exam, I came in 4th in the class."

"If that's true, then why did you get assigned to the same team as me and Sasuke-kun? The dead last _always_ gets placed with the top shinobi and kunoichi," the pink haired girl retorted, clearly not believing Naruto's self-proclaimed class standing.

Naruto ground her teeth tighter and fought to maintain a non-caring expression. "Maybe our sensei requested me," she suggested lightly.

Sakura burst out with cruel laughter. "Who would want _you_? You are such a liar," she accused. "Everyone knows that you failed the exam yesterday. Why are you even here?" She suspiciously eyed the hitai-ate displayed proudly on the blonde's forehead.

Tears prickled at the corner of Naruto's eyes. She blinked them back furiously, baffled and devastated by Sakura's cruelty. She risked a glance at Sasuke to gauge his reaction. The dark haired boy was looking at Sakura with disgust, making her feel a little better. At least the other girl's behavior wasn't going unnoticed.

"If you must know, _Mizuki_ fudged my scores," Naruto ground out through clenched teeth, not really sure why she was even bothering to explain to someone who clearly hated her. "That's why he isn't here today. He's a traitor who tried to steal from the hokage. He hoped that I would be so desperate to pass that I would do it for him and take the blame."

Before Sakura could interrupt with another nasty comment, Naruto continued quickly. "I know what you're going to say, and that isn't true either. I've never failed an exam before."

"Then why weren't you a genin two years ago?" Sakura asked mockingly.

"The same reason wonder boy over there isn't," Naruto replied sweetly, jerking her thumb at the Uchiha, who appeared to be doing his best to ignore them both. "I don't have a guardian to sign the release form for early graduation."

The pink haired girl bristled at the imagined slight toward her idol and started to rise out of her seat aggressively. But before she could do anything, the door slid open with a quiet snick, turning all three of their heads.

A tall man with gravity defying silver hair stood in the doorway. He wore his hitai-ate at an angle over his left eye and a mask covered his face from the nose down to the collar of his jounin uniform. He stared at them impassively with one lidded eye.

After a moment of tense silence, a pleasant smile crossed his face, turning his visible eye into a happy crescent. A chill ran down Naruto's spine and she had the feeling that he actually wasn't happy at all.

"My first impression… you are all a bunch of brats." He looked at them in turn, dark eye lingering on Naruto's clenched fists.

She followed his gaze to her hands and let out an irritated sigh as she realized that her nails had cut deeply into her palms. It didn't really hurt and the little half-moon cuts were already closing, so she wasn't overly concerned.

"Maa, Naruto, why don't you go clean up and meet us on the roof," Kakashi suggested, his tone making it clear that it wasn't really a suggestion.

Naruto stilled, halfway to wiping her hands on her pants, and frowned slightly at the blood that coated her palms. "Yeah, I guess I should."

She edged past the jounin, glancing over her shoulder at her teammates, and headed down the hall toward the bathroom. Opening the door with her elbow, Naruto slipped inside and headed straight for the sinks. She scrubbed the blood from her hands and under her nails before splashing cold water on her face. Naruto leaned on the sink and looked at herself in the mirror. Her reflection stared back warily.

"Just ignore her," she muttered to herself with a sigh. "It isn't like you haven't heard worse walking through town."

But it _felt_ worse than the vitriol from the strangers in the village. Sakura was someone whom she had known since they first entered the Academy. Despite that, the other girl had never shown any interest in getting to know Naruto and was one of those who didn't even know her gender. Sakura had always been rude to her, but never so deliberately cruel.

Naruto took a deep, steadying breath to ease the pain from her expression. She slipped her forehead protector down around her neck and patted her face dry with a handful of paper towels. After tossing the wad of damp paper in the trashcan, she pulled her headband back into place and tapped the metal plate with a wry smile.

"I won't give up that easily, jiji," she promised, determined not to let Sakura's jabs get to her. Surely if she didn't rise to the bait, the other girl would stop picking at her.

As soon as she got to the rooftop, it was apparent that Kakashi had said something to the pink haired kunoichi. Sakura was downcast and shamefaced and didn't even look at Naruto as she took the open space between her teammates. Sasuke was as inscrutably surly as usual and Kakashi was… beaming at her.

"Now that we are all here, let's get to know each other a little bit. Why don't you introduce yourselves and share your likes, dislikes, dreams for the future… that sort of thing," he said, waiting expectantly for someone to volunteer.

Naruto looked at her teammates, and seeing that they certainly weren't going to go first, sighed and broke the silence. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen, plants, and the people I care about. I don't like being touched or when people judge me based on rumors and…" she paused, looking for the right word to describe the senseless hate of the villagers, "ignorance. My dream is to be hokage… and for people to acknowledge me."

"Thank you Naruto," Kakashi said with an eye smile. Unlike in the classroom, this smile seemed genuine and she gave a small smile in return. The jounin indicated Sasuke. "Next?"

The Uchiha grunted and dropped his hands away from his chin. "Uchiha Sasuke. I don't like much and I dislike a lot of things. I don't have so much a dream as a goal… that is to kill a certain man."

Naruto frowned at the boy, wondering if his 'goal' had anything to do with the mysterious massacre of his clan. She had always thought that the culprit was unknown. Maybe Sasuke didn't know either and that was why he hadn't named any names.

"Hmm, interesting," Kakashi intoned blandly. But Naruto thought he looked a little concerned and definitely disapproving. "And you?" he gestured at Sakura.

The pink haired girl fidgeted. "My name is Haruto Sakura. I like flowers and…" she glanced at Sasuke with a blush, the thought of her crush reviving her spirits somewhat. "I don't like Ino-buta. My dream…" she looked at the dark haired boy again and giggled.

"What about you, sensei?" Naruto asked curiously, inwardly shuddering at Sakura's embarrassing display. Girls like her and the rest of the Sasuke Fan Club gave kunoichi a bad name and were why Naruto had never felt the urge to correct anyone when they assumed incorrectly about her gender.

Kakashi smiled again. "Well, depending on what happens tomorrow, I will tell you. The first thing you three should know is that you aren't really genin yet."

"What?"

"Why not?"

Sakura and Naruto cried aloud as Sasuke glared mutinously, as if by sheer willpower he could revoke Kakashi's words.

The jounin chuckled. He always loved this part; they were always so tiny and outraged. "I mean that there is still another test to pass. You remember the kids who came back for a review year, right? Well they're the ones who didn't pass the second test."

"Why is there another test, sensei?" Sakura asked, concern edging her words. Despite her harsh words to Naruto earlier, she knew very well that she wasn't the top ranked kunoichi. Even though it burned to admit it, Ino had beaten her in nin- and taijutsu, assertiveness, and team cooperation. Sakura had blown her out of the water in the written test scores, chakra control, and genjutsu, but both girls still lost out to Sasuke in all three jutsu areas.

"Hmm, well there is a lot more about being a ninja than just what you are tested on in the Academy," Kakashi replied. "So I'm going to ask you a question. Tomorrow, you will meet me at 9:00 a.m. in training ground 7 to give me your answers. Whoever answers this question correctly will pass and the others will have to go back for the review year." He paused dramatically, seeming to relish the anxious expressions on the genin's faces. "What is the most important aspect of being a shinobi?"

Kakashi waited long enough to see the confusion set in on their faces before forming a single hand seal and disappearing, leaving behind a swirl of bright green leaves.

Sasuke stood with an incomprehensible mutter and headed back for the stairs, raising his hand lazily in farewell. Rising quickly, Sakura hastened to follow him, but stopped short at the door leading back down into the building.

"I'm… sorry for being so rude, Naruto," she said softly, without turning her head to look back at the surprised blonde.

After the pink-haired girl made her escape, a small pleased smile spread over Naruto's face. "Well, that's a start," she murmured. Even _if_ the apology had only been spurred by Kakashi's scolding, it still meant a lot to her. People didn't usually apologize to Naruto, even when under pressure. A handful of shop owners had been put out of business for by trying to smack her around when she was little and then refusing to apologize for it even when the hokage himself spoke with them.

She wondered why she _really_ had been placed with this team. Now having seen him, Naruto knew for sure that she had never met Kakashi before, so it was highly unlikely that he had requested her. And she definitely would have gotten along better with Shikamaru or Chouji, or even Kiba's team.

Naruto decided that it wouldn't hurt to go talk to the hokage about it, given that he had the final say in the team assignments. She shimmied down the side of the building, rather than take the stairs back inside (and risk running into her new teammates, if she were to be completely honest). It might not be a bad idea to ask him for advice on Kakashi's question too. Naruto felt sure that the question was just too straightforward. There had to be a catch.

She made her way through town, ignoring the usual hostile glares directed at her back by the majority of the villagers. The Hokage Tower was only a few minutes away from the Academy and she took her usual route to the office located at the very top—through the back door.

It wasn't so much a back door as a hidden ANBU entrance, so she had to be sneaky to use it. If she was noticed, someone would intercept her and then she'd be directed back to the front entrance. But if she reached the secret door without being seen, the ANBU left her alone, even though she knew that they were aware of her once she was inside. She hadn't been taken back to the front since she was 9.

As usual, the ANBU were invisible, but Naruto always knew that they were there. They always made the hairs on the back of her neck bristle and now she thought that maybe the kyuubi could sense them somehow.

The passage spiraled through the tower to lead directly toward the hokage's office. Naruto thought that it must be a secret escape route, given that the entrance was concealed by a false panel behind the desk. Just as the door to the office came into sight, an ANBU dropped into Naruto's path.

"You must wait 3 minutes," the ANBU whispered precisely, voice pitched in a way to make discerning gender all but impossible. Normally, Naruto could tell just from the body shape, but this ANBU was wearing the all-concealing cloak that was sometimes a part of the uniform.

"He finishing up a meeting?" she asked, leaning against the wall. At the affirmative nod, she squinted through the dim light to study the ANBU's mask with interest. The white masks were a trademark of the elite group and were always stylistically painted to resemble some animal. Naruto always liked to pay attention to the markings so she could remember who she encountered. The material of the mask looked like porcelain, but she was sure that it was probably something much less breakable, and much _more_ breathable. This mask looked like some kind of rodent and was unfamiliar to her.

"Rat or mouse?" she questioned with a grin. The ANBU always tried to remain silent around her, so she made it a personal goal to make them speak.

The shinobi tilted their head as if to say that they knew _exactly_ what Naruto was doing and that it wouldn't work. Instead of replying verbally, the ANBU held up two gloved fingers.

"Mouse, then," Naruto confirmed. "Nice to meet you! Can I go in now?"

The ANBU was still for a moment before turning to swing open the door and stepping aside to allow Naruto to pass.

She turned to thank the ANBU, but they had already disappeared back into the gloom. Naruto shrugged and slid the panel back into place.

"Hi, jiji," she said, moving to stand beside his chair. When the old man swiveled to face her, she flung her arms around him in an exuberant hug.

"Hello, Naruto," Sarutobi chuckled, returning the hug, "what can I do for you today?"

Naruto pulled back and leaned on the desk. "Well, I actually have two questions for you," she said, scratching at her cheek. "Why did I get put on a team with Sasuke and Sakura?"

The hokage reclined in his chair and took a long draw on his pipe. "There are several answers to that question, Naruto. Most importantly, Kakashi requested you to be on his team, the council wished for Sasuke to work with Kakshi, and Sakura was chosen to fill the gap because her strengths compliment the pair of you. I also believed that you three would be helpful to one another."

Naruto gaped at him. "Sensei really asked for me? But… why? I've never even met him before…"

Sarutobi smiled warmly. "I think that is something that you should ask him yourself. You should have more faith in yourself, Naruto," he said, slowly laying a hand on her shoulder. "Several of the jounin expressed an interest in you this year."

"You aren't just saying that to be nice, are you?" Naruto asked, peering at the old man suspiciously. While she flinched away from most contact, the hokage was someone that she didn't mind touching her. He had always been gentle and kind, never raising a hand toward her in anger.

The Sandaime laughed and patted her shoulder before releasing her. "I meant it! Some people long at you and see only a promising ninja. Now, what was your second question?"

Naruto willed the blush to leave her cheeks, mentally thanking the hokage for changing the subject. Compliments like that were few and far between, causing her to have no clue how to react when she actually received one. "Um, Kakashi-sensei asked us a question to think about for tomorrow, and I'm pretty sure it's a trick. I mean, like it is a lot more complicated that it seems."

"That _does_ sound like something he would do," Sarutobi agreed, puffing on his pipe again. "Why don't you tell me what he said and talk through the answer for me."

"Well, he wanted us to tell him what is the most important thing about being a shinobi, and at first I would say one of the jutsu styles, or a log for kawarimi, but I think he means something more…" she trailed off, searching for the right word.

"Having a log at hand is certainly important, but you are right in that it is not quite the answer he is looking for," the hokage laughed. "So, which areas were you tested on in the exam?"

"Nin-, gen-, and taijutsu, assertiveness, a written exam over history and tactics, chakra control, and cooperation," Naruto recited dutifully. As she said the last test area, her brow furrowed. "Wait… Kakashi-sensei said that he could pass some of us and send the others back to school, but Iruka-sensei gave this huge speech about being in a team. Maybe he means… we should work together?"

She was surprised that she could remember Iruka's words, given that she had been doing her best to tune him out in the aftermath of her panic attack, but as Sarutobi hummed noncommittally, Naruto was glad that she had absorbed the lesson.

"I mean, even the ANBU don't usually work alone, do they?" She deflated a little as she thought about who exactly was on her team and released her breath in a long sigh. "I don't think that Sasuke or Sakura will want to work with me though."

The hokage blew out a ring of smoke and nudged Naruto's chin up. "Be more confident in yourself, Naruto. I know that you can bring them together."

"Thanks, jiji," Naruto said with a small smile. She wasn't nearly so sure that she could convince the other two members of her team that they needed to work together. Hopefully, they would come up with the answer on their own and she wouldn't have to try to persuade them.


	3. Chapter 3

**Note: I am so glad you are all enjoying this! I've always wanted to do a femNaru and I am having a lot of fun with this one!**

**Edit: Thanks, Kedo, for pointing out that I got my wars mixed up! Uzushiogakure was wiped out in the Second War, not the Third.**

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_Chapter 3_

Naruto's stomach churned with nerves about Kakashi's second test all night and she had slept poorly. After hours of tossing and turning, she had given up on sleeping any longer and sat against her wall to gaze out the window at the pre-dawn village. With her knees tucked under her chin, Naruto took peace in the still, quiet rooftops and the Hokage Monument, which was just visible through the faint light.

When her battered alarm went off, the shrill sound startled her and she quickly unfolded to turn it off. Naruto stretched with a faint groan. Her eyes felt puffy and a faint headache throbbed in the back of her head. The kyuubi had healed every wound, but never bothered with the tired headaches that Naruto suffered when she slept badly.

With one last crack of her back, Naruto got up and shuffled into the small kitchenette. She had been able to get a little shopping down yesterday, so her cabinets were full of a variety of ingredients. Naruto felt sure that Kakashi would be atrociously late again, so she decided on a hot grain cereal and a large piece of fruit to keep her full.

After a quick shower, Naruto peered into her wardrobe critically. Her favorite orange outfit was still in tatters, which was depressing in more ways than one, given that she really could have used the emotional comfort it provided. She had a lot of casual clothing, but none of her t-shirts were made with shinobi fabrics, so they tore and stained extremely easily. There was a canvas bag slumped over at the bottom of the wardrobe and Naruto peered into it curiously.

"I can't believe I forgot about this," she muttered. She dug through the bag and withdrew her graduation gift from the hokage. The present had slipped her mind because of everything that had happened in the last couple days. Inside the bag was an outfit that the hokage claimed reminded him of what his old student wore.

The top was dark orange, sleeveless, and hit her at mid-thigh. It had to be secured with a black sash and the wrap style reminded her a little of the yukata provided at the baths. Naruto examined the fabric critically and was surprised to find the material extremely sturdy despite being so soft. The shirt came with a pair of black cropped pants that hid a surprising number of pockets. Naruto slipped on the new clothes over her under gear and stepped into the bathroom to scrutinize the outfit.

Her view was limited due to the small size of the mirror, but Naruto had long discovered that by standing on a stool in the shower, she could see her lower half. The outfit was flattering and functional and she really appreciated the orange.

Naruto hopped off the stool and kicked it out of the way before heading back to the kitchen. After washing her dishes, she looked at her clock and sighed. It was still too early, but she supposed it wouldn't hurt to get a little warm-up in before everyone else showed up. She affixed her pouches, tied on her headband, and stepped into her sandals before heading out to the meeting place.

The training ground was quiet and peaceful when she arrived. It was equipped with fairly standard training materials: a small stream for water jutsu, three upright logs for kunai or taijutsu practice, and of course, plenty of trees. Naruto pursed her lips as she mentally judged the size of the open clearing at the center of training ground seven. She always liked to start her warm up with a bit of running to loosen up her muscles, but the field was small enough that it would probably take about 500 laps before she even started to sweat. Her immense chakra capacity ensured that she also had an absurd amount of stamina.

Instead of laps, since she had to run to the far side of the village to even _get_ to the training fields, Naruto decided to have a light spar. She brought her hands together in a cross shaped seal and created a single shadow clone.

"Okay, I'm going to do defense only for now so I don't pop you too quickly," she said to the clone, squashing a twinge of embarrassment for _literally_ talking to herself.

"How do you want to call it, boss?" the clone asked as it dropped into an aggressive taijutsu stance.

Naruto lowered into a defensive crouch and hummed thoughtfully. "Let's start at 5. Critical hits only; glancing blows don't count."

The moment she finished speaking, the clone launched its attack. Naruto rolled her eyes at her own impatience and blocked several quick punches. She catching a fist aimed at her face and used the momentum to throw the clone over her shoulder.

Naruto skipped away as the clone rebounded off a training log and flew back at her. She resisted the urge the throw a jab at its exposed side, instead making a mental note of the hole in her form. The clone kicked high at Naruto's head and snuck a hard blow to her torso when she reached up to block.

"That's one," it said smugly, leaping back to create some space.

"Yeah, and it'll be the _only _one," Naruto retorted, rubbing irritably at her ribs.

As she fell back into a defensive stance, something moved at the edge of her peripheral vision, disrupting her attention long enough to land a palm strike to her face. There was a terrible crunching sound and blood gushed from Naruto's nose.

She swore and lifted a hand to assess the damage. It was definitely broken. She glared furiously at the clone, pupils dilated in fury.

The clone gulped, knowing its own temper well enough to realize that it was screwed. It seriously considered dispelling, but knew that unless Naruto got out the aggression, she would be in a black mood for the rest of the day. It came from taking one too many sucker punches without being able to defend herself or retaliate.

Naruto launched herself at the clone, tackling it to the ground and popping it in a single vicious strike. As she kneeled on the ground, her pupils constricted to a more normal diameter and she let out a shaky breath as the rage induced fog faded from her mind. She waved the lingering smoke from the dispelled clone away from her face with a scowl. Her irritation lingered, caused both by the broken nose and her own reaction to getting hit. Naruto knew that flying into a rage was a terrible weakness, but she wasn't sure how to go about stopping it.

She straightened and used her forearm to wipe her face. Blood continued to flow steadily from her nose and she grimaced at the amount now coating her arm and splattered down the front of her shirt. Fortunately, shinobi fabrics were highly stain resistant and there was a perfected method of removing blood from clothing. It was one of the first skills taught in the Academy.

"Great," she muttered under her breath. As she turned toward the small stream, Naruto startled badly at the sight of Sasuke leaning nonchalantly against one of the training logs.

"Um… morning?" she offered, trying to force her suddenly tense muscles to relax.

"Hn," he replied shortly, watching her intently as she knelt by the water.

Naruto splashed her face and scrubbed her skin clean. The blood still trickling from her nose felt scalding hot compared to the cold steam water and she wiped it away again, probing her nose gently. It was crooked and she knew from experience that it wouldn't stop bleeding completely and start healing unless she straightened it back out. She really hated having to straighten her nose when it was broken.

"When did you learn how to make a shadow clone?"

_Crunch_.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Naruto asked through gritted teeth. Tears streamed reflexively from her eyes as her nose throbbed angrily from being jerked back into place. Pinching the bridge of her nose to staunch the remaining blood, she rummaged through her hip pouch with her free hand and withdrew a scrap of cloth. She submerged it in the cool water and then carefully wiped her face clean.

A small jar was thrust into her field of vision and Naruto looked up to see Sasuke offering it to her. She raised a questioning eyebrow at him.

"It'll help with the swelling and pain. There's a numbing agent in it."

"Oh, thanks," Naruto replied, taken aback by the kind gesture. She accepted the jar and opened it, peering curiously at the contents. It appeared to be a standard healing ointment, but with her nose currently out of action, she couldn't be certain that there wasn't something special in the formula. As she dabbed the salve on and around her nose, Sasuke repeated his earlier question.

She hesitated, wondering how much she was allowed to tell him. The hokage hadn't really said whether that mission was classified, which is why she mentioned it to Sakura the day before. But while Sasuke hadn't been openly rude to her, he also didn't do anything to stop Sakura's verbal abuse. Naruto wasn't sure that she really _wanted _to tell him anything. Unbidden, the hokage's confidence that she would make the team work rose to her mind and she sighed quietly, deciding to bury the past and extend an overture of friendship.

"Like I said yesterday, I helped Hokage-jiji with Mizuki. Since I can't make a regular bunshin, he taught me how to make shadow clones instead of cash as payment."

At Sasuke's blatantly interested expression, Naruto grimaced.

"I'm forbidden to teach kage bunshin to anyway," she explained, wincing internally at the disappointment on her teammate's face. "It's technically classified as a kinjutsu."

"Why did he teach you shadow clones instead of an elemental clone?" he asked, interest still glimmering in his eyes.

Naruto felt her cheeks heat from the focused attention. "Um, well kage bunshin is considered a kinjutsu for two reasons: it takes the user's chakra and splits it evenly among the clones, and when dispelled, the clone provides you with a memory feedback. So if you don't have large enough chakra reserves, it could kill you. I have a lot of chakra."

As Sasuke stood quietly, looking thoughtful, Naruto returned the little jar of ointment. He blinked several times and accepted the jar, slipping it back into his hip pouch. "Can you only make the one clone?" he asked, focusing sharply on her.

"Oh no, I can make a lot more than that," Naruto replied, watching her teammate warily. He was eyeing her oddly, almost as if he were sizing her up for a fight.

With an exasperated sigh, the dark haired boy gestured with his hand as if to ask _how_ many.

"Well, the night I learned it, I made about a thousand," she admitted reluctantly. "I could… probably make more, if I really tried."

Sasuke stared at her incredulously. "How is that even possible?" he burst out, completely breaking out of his usual stoicism.

Naruto chewed her lip uncertainly, trying to think of a reason that she could give him for having more chakra than any human really had a right to have. After learning about the kyuubi, she had begged the hokage for anything he could share about her parents. He finally relented and told her that her mother's name was Uzumaki Kushina and that the Uzumaki used to be a large clan famous for their fuinjutsu, incredibly long lifespans, and massive chakra reserves. She felt fiercely protective of the tiny amount of information she had managed to get, but given that the alternative would be to take a flying leap of faith and explain about the biju sealed in her gut continuously bolstering her own reserves, Naruto thought it was easier to talk about her mother. Besides, it was mostly true. Even if she didn't have the kyuubi, she would have had an obnoxious amount of chakra anyway.

"It's something like a bloodline," she said finally. "Jiji told me that the Uzumaki clan was practically wiped out during the Second Shinobi War because they were feared for having so much chakra that they lived for _decades_ longer than usual and they were brilliant with deadly sealing techniques."

Naruto cleared her throat awkwardly and stared at her feet.

Sasuke inhaled quickly, no doubt preparing to continue his interrogation, but the arrival of their third teammate halted the query in his throat.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura called, hurrying over to them.

Naruto had never been so glad to see the pink haired girl. She was starting to regret being so open with someone she was pretty sure didn't like her. It hadn't felt right to tell him to mind his own business and the hokage had definitely encouraged her to try to make friends with her teammates. She thought that maybe if she took a leap of faith and let them have a glimpse of who she really was, they would do the same with her.

She quickly stuffed the soiled cloth that was still clutched in her fist back into her hip pouch, sniffing experimentally to gauge how her nose was doing. It didn't really hurt very much anymore, even though she could tell that it still wasn't healed yet. She made a mental note to ask Sasuke where he got that medicine when she had the chance. Naruto didn't want to bring it up in front of Sakura mostly because she didn't feel like rehashing the entire event.

"Morning Sakura," she offered with a faint smile.

The pink haired girl turned reluctantly away from her crush and gave Naruto a semblance of a smile. It didn't seem genuine, but Kakashi's words from yesterday still seemed to be affecting her.

"Hi," Sakura replied, green eyes lingering on the blood dotting the front of Naruto's shirt. Her brow furrowed and for a moment, Naruto thought she would ask about the dark stains. Instead, Sakura shook herself lightly and turned back to Sasuke.

Naruto sighed softly. It seemed that was as good as she was going to get for now, but it was definitely a start. And it was a huge improvement over the pink haired girl's behavior yesterday.

She meandered over to one of the training logs and hopped up to sit on top of it. Humming quietly under her breath, she wondered if she should broach the subject of Kakashi's question with her team. It felt like the right thing to do, given that she was fairly certain that the answer was teamwork, but Sakura was blatantly projecting a 'don't talk to me' aura and Sasuke had already retreated into his stoic bubble.

The choice was taken away from her, however, with Kakashi's arrival. The jounin was accompanied by a generous puff of smoke.

Naruto pulled a small field watch out of her pouch and gaped at it. Both Iruka and the hokage and given her the impression that Kakashi was known for being chronically late to everything that wasn't a legitimate emergency and according to her watch, he was five minutes early! He glanced at her briefly and Naruto remembered with a slight jolt that he had specifically requested her to be on his team. She still didn't think she had ever met him before, even if his chakra _did_ feel slightly familiar, but she couldn't help wonder if maybe he was here on time because of her.

"Good morning," Kakashi greeted with a smile, eyeing all three genin equally now. "I trust you have all given my question consideration?"

"Yes, sensei," Naruto replied as Sakura and Sasuke both nodded.

"Excellent! Here is what I would like you to do," the jounin said. He flicked two small bells that were tied to his belt. "Using your answer, you will try to take these bells away from me. You will have until noon to get a bell," Kakashi explained, withdrawing a small alarm from his hip pouch. "When this alarm goes off, whoever has managed to get a bell will pass. If you can't get one, you'll have to go back to the Academy.

Now Naruto was _sure_ that teamwork was the right answer here. There was just no way that a fresh-out-of-school genin could get _anything_ from a jounin alone. She glanced at her teammates and suppressed a pang of disappointment. Sasuke's eyes were focused single-mindedly on the bells at Kakashi's hip and Sakura was downcast, twiddling her fingers. Getting them to work together may be even harder than she initially thought.


	4. Chapter 4

**Note: Thanks so much for all the favs/follows and reviews! It's really encouraging to know that y'all are enjoying this :)**

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_Chapter 4_

The genin waited in tense silence as Kakashi approached the training logs, where they were crowded on one end, to perch the clock on top of the log in the middle. He hummed thoughtfully and then adjusted the clock with no discernable effect. Naruto startled as the jounin abruptly vanished and reappeared in the middle of the clearing, back facing the steam.

"Begin!"

As soon as Kakashi finished speaking, both Sakura and Sasuke leapt into the trees. Naruto deliberated anxiously. Her teammates had gone in opposite directions and she wasn't sure who would be more approachable. While she had managed to establish somewhat of a rapport with Sasuke, he was so stubborn about doing everything by himself that she wasn't sure the tentative connection would be enough. Sakura had made it abundantly clear that she only tolerated Naruto's presence, no doubt a lingering effect of whatever their sensei had said to her. But the pink-haired girl was more likely to listen to logic and she definitely wasn't as confident as Sasuke about her skills. Sakura could potentially be more open to working together.

Keeping a wary eye on her smiling sensei until she was in cover, Naruto crept into the trees to search for her teammate. Once she was marginally safer in the dense cover of foliage, she extended her senses in preparation for seeking out the pink-haired girl's chakra. However, before Naruto could even start looking, Sakura's perfume flooded her senses. She pinched her nose to hold of a sneeze and then snorted softly to clear the strong scent from her nostrils. How had she not noticed this perfume before? It was cloyingly sweet and now Naruto could actually_ taste_ it, having tried to avoid the smell by breathing though her nose.

She moved silently through the brush, trying simultaneously to follow the perfume and not inhale too deeply and risk choking—had Sakura bathed in it? Naruto made a mental note to tactfully ask the other girl to take it easy with the scent; an enemy nin would be able to find her from a mile away. Finally, as the perfume intensified, Naruto spotted pink and crept up behind her teammate.

"Sakura," she breathed, hoping that the kunoichi didn't scream in surprise.

To her credit, Sakura made no sound beyond a soft gasp, but she did startle violently and shoot a reflexive elbow toward the Naruto's head.

"Stop, stop," she hissed, "it's just me!" She deflected the strike and held on to the other girl's arm to prevent any further attacks.

"Naruto, you idiot! What are you doing?" Sakura shot back in an angry whisper, jerking her arm out of the blonde's grip.

"We need to work together to get the bells," Naruto said softly. She ruthlessly suppressed the pang of hurt from the faintly disgusted expression on the pink-haired girl's face. Before Sakura could argue, Naruto quickly shared the hints she had gotten from the hokage and why she thought they should work as a team.

"Besides, can't you feel his chakra?" she asked, grimacing. "There's no way we could get a bell from sensei on our own."

"That does make sense, I guess," Sakura agreed. She looked extremely reluctant and it didn't take long for her concern to turn to the object of her affection. "But what about Sasuke-kun?"

Naruto sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "That's not going to be easy. He isn't going to want to work with us, but we've got to convince him. I don't even think getting the bell is all that important; I bet he just wants to see us working together."

The pink-haired kunoichi hummed thoughtfully. "Maybe when Sasuke-kun tries for a bell, we can just jump in and support him without involving him in the planning process at all."

"That's… not a bad idea," Naruto said. She wouldn't have thought Sakura could be so practical about the Uchiha. "He won't even have the chance to turn us away. Let's keep a close eye on him so we know when to help."

The two girls crept back up to the edge of the clearing and peered through the gaps in the leaves at Kakashi, who was still standing in the center with bored posture. While they waited for Sasuke to make his move, Naruto gathered her courage.

"Hey, Sakura," she whispered. "Can… can you possible use a little less perfume next time? I'm not sure if you knew, but it's really, really strong," Naruto said quickly, hoping she wasn't about to become victim to one of Sakura's enraged beatings again.

To her surprise, the other girl blushed and hid her face in her hands. "I know," she groaned. "I was running late this morning and accidentally spilled the whole bottle on my dress. There wasn't any time to change."

"Oh. That's good," Naruto sighed. "I thought that maybe you just couldn't tell."

"Is it really that bad?" Sakura asked, peering at her through spread fingers. Her cheeks were bright red.

"I think it's really just me," the blonde said, taking pity on the mortified girl. "I have a really sensitive nose."

"You don't think Sasuke-kun noticed, do you?"

"Um, it's hard to say," Naruto whispered. "I can't really tell what he's thinking most of the time. But I think he would have said something."

Sakura released a shaky breath in relief. "Thanks, Naruto," she said softly, turning her eyes back to the clearing.

Naruto blinked at her in surprise before facing forward again with a small smile.

It took another fifteen minutes for Sasuke to get tired of hiding while Kakashi stood there looking like he was about to nod off. The dark haired boy leapt out and immediately engaged the jounin in taijutsu. Sasuke appeared to be holding his own, but when Naruto looked more closely, she saw that their sensei was hardly even trying.

She signaled to Sakura, who quickly cast a basic perception altering genjutsu on Kakashi. It was extremely subtle and weak enough that the jounin might not even notice it, given his large chakra reserves. The jutsu always worked on Naruto because of how much chakra she had, which was why she thought they had a chance with it against their sensei.

Kakashi stumbled almost imperceptibly, indicating to the girls that the jutsu had taken hold. Before he could recover, Naruto burst into action. Four shadow clones erupted from the stream and leapt at their sensei, restraining his limbs.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed angrily at the interference, but he took advantage of the opening and lunged for the bells. But just before his fingers could make contact, Kakashi vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving a short log in his place.

"Damn it, we were so close!" grumbled a clone.

The real Naruto emerged from the tress with Sakura trailing behind her and dispelled the clones with a hand seal. Sasuke glared at them both.

"I could have gotten a bell on my own," he insisted irritably. "I don't need your help."

Before he could retreat back into the woods, Naruto caught the back of his shirt. "He was playing with you," she said bluntly, letting go of his clothing and backing away slightly.

"What do you mean?" the Uchiha asked with a scowl, brushing imagined dirt from his shirt.

"We were watching the whole time and sensei was barely even paying attention," Naruto explained, holding her hands up in supplication against the dark glower. "Look, you're good. Really good. But Kakashi-sensei graduated from the Academy at _five years old_. When he was our age, he was already a jounin. Hokage-jiji told me that he's one of the strongest ninja in the entire village. Sensei could wipe the floor with all three of us in his sleep."

Sasuke scowl deepened at the insinuation that he wasn't good enough. "Then what do you suggest?" he asked begrudgingly.

"We almost got him and that was without including you in the planning," Naruto replied. She could hardly believe that he was sticking around and actually listening to her.

"If we work together to come up with something better," Sakura chimed in, "I think we can get the bells."

The Uchiha crossed his arms across his chest stubbornly. "Even if we do team up, one of us is still getting sent back to the Academy," he pointed out.

Unease suddenly crept along Naruto's spine and she looked around nervously. "Let's get into cover," she suggested quietly. "We're sitting ducks out here."

The three hopeful genin retreated back to the trees, where Naruto repeated her suspicion that the bells themselves didn't really matter as much as working together as a team. Sasuke reluctantly admitted that her theory made sense and agreed to try it their way once.

"If this doesn't work though, I'm going alone again," he warned.

Naruto nodded, knowing that this was probably the best she was going to get out of him. "The one time is all we need," she said more confidently than she felt. "Okay, does anyone have any explosive tags?"

It took nearly all of their remaining time to track Kakashi down and when they finally found him lounging near the K.I.A. Memorial, there were barely fifteen minutes left on the clock. He was nose deep in the same little orange book that he had been reading earlier but he glanced up when a herd of genin came charging from the forest. Dozens of Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke clones massed together and swarmed toward the jounin.

Kakashi slipped his book into his hip pouch and defended himself, sending several clones flying away to pop in midair. He thrust a palm strike at a Sakura's face, but his hand when straight through her head, throwing off his balance and allowing a shadow clone of Naruto to land a solid hit to his ribs. The bells tinkled quietly.

The jounin recovered ridiculously quickly and he leapt back for a little time to assess the situation. He threw a handful of shuriken at the crowd, popping several shadow clones and passing through the illusionary bunshin. From within the mass, a huge fireball erupted, destroying the clones in front of it and forcing Kakashi to use a quick water jutsu to defend himself. A dozen kunai burst through the resulting steam, all of which the jounin either dodged or deflected with his own weapon.

The alarm sounded shrilly; the remaining shadow clones popped and the bunshin faded away. The three genin emerged from the tree line, proud grins on Naruto and Sakura's faces and a slight smile upturning the corner of Sasuke's mouth. Kakashi's eye narrowed at their expressions and looked down at his hip to see two frayed strings. Sakura and Sasuke each brandished a bell smugly.

"Very good," Kakashi praised, brushing a bit of soot from his flak jacket. "But what about you, Naruto?"

The blonde glanced at her teammates, hoping that they would stick to the rest of the plan now that they each had a bell in their hands. Sakura looked down at her bell uncertainly. Just as Naruto's heart was beginning to sink, Sasuke scoffed and tossed his bell at her.

Naruto caught it and grinned gratefully at him, the tears that had been prickling her eyes fading away.

"Is that your answer then?" Kakashi asked, stuffing his hands in his pockets. At the genin's nods, he smiled widely, visible eye crinkling happily. "Congratulations! You all pass!"

Sakura whooped and leapt excitedly into the air while Sasuke smirked, assuming a cocky posture. Naruto felt a wide grin stretch across her face as happiness overwhelmed her. She could hardly believe that she was finally a genin.

The jounin turned and patted the top of the memorial rock fondly. "This is the monument for all the Konoha shinobi that gave their lives for this village. My entire team is on this rock. Each of them and every other person on here all died to save the lives of their friends, teammates, and everyone else in the village."

Kakashi's nostalgic smile faded to a serious expression. "Teamwork is the most important aspect of being a shinobi. There will always be someone out there who is stronger, smarter, and all around _better_ than you and the only way to overcome such adversity is by working with your team. Always remember that while those who break the rules are trash, those who turn their back on their team are worse than trash."

He held out his hand expectantly and both Naruto and Sakura dropped the bells into his open palm. "It is very important that you three get to know each other well. You need to be able to trust your team. And I guess that means I should introduce myself properly now," he said with a smile.

"My name is Hatake Kakashi. I like to read and train. I don't like to write reports or be on time—you kids were lucky today—and my dream is to see you three accomplish _your_ dreams. Before I let you go for today, I have one last question. Why did you choose to become a shinobi?"

Like yesterday, neither Sakura nor Sasuke seemed willing to volunteer first. Naruto chewed her lip, resigned that she would probably always be the first one to speak. She steeled herself to be completely honest, truly wanting to take Kakashi's words to heart. But while she could stand to share some personal information, Naruto decided to wait until they were a little friendlier before divulging her greatest secret. She hadn't forgotten how Sakura had decided not to give her the bell.

Naruto cleared her throat nervously, drawing the eyes of her team toward her. "Um, at first, I didn't want to be a ninja," she admitted, twisting her hands together behind her back. "People don't… people don't like me very much and I tried running away from the village a few times. Once, when I was about five, I got all the way outside the wall. An ANBU caught me, of course, but this time he didn't just take me home. He took me to see the hokage."

She grinned and rubbed the back of her neck. "I love hokage-jiji. He's the one who made me want to be a ninja. I saw how the ANBU watched over him and decided that I wanted to do that too. And when I found a few more people who became precious to me, I wanted to take care of them too."

"I want to be hokage," Naruto declared, finally raising her eyes to look at her teammates and sensei. "I know why people don't like me now and I want to take care of them so they know that there's nothing to worry about—nothing to be afraid of. And this is the village where the people I love live… so I want to protect it. For them."

"You'll make an excellent hokage someday with that attitude, Naruto," Kakashi said fondly, reaching out to gently ruffle her hair.

Naruto leaned away from the contact, but grinned at him, embarrassed color creeping up her neck. She glanced sidelong at her teammates. Sakura was looking at her with surprise mixed with shame and Sasuke appeared to be appraising her again.

The pink haired girl frowned slightly. "Since Naruto was so honest, I guess I should be too. My reason for being a ninja has gotten a little lost, I guess," she admitted. "My parents are merchants, so when I was growing up, we travelled a lot between towns for deliveries and pick-ups. We always hired a team to keep us safe from bandits on the road. There was this kunoichi who got assigned to our guard pretty regularly. She was so amazing," Sakura said excitedly.

"She seemed so strong and capable and everything that I really wished I was." She sobered and her mouth twisted ruefully. "She died, you know. On some mission that went bad. I can't remember her name or even what she looked like anymore." Sakura sighed softly and picked at the hem of her dress. "When I was old enough, I asked my parents to enroll me in the Academy. I wanted to be just like her. I guess… I forgot about all that in the last couple years. I won't forget again," she promised.

Before anyone could comment on what the pink haired girl had shared, Sasuke spoke up. "My brother was my hero. I wanted to be like him," he bit out through clenched teeth. "He went crazy and killed everyone, so now my reason for being a ninja is to hunt him down and bring him to justice for what he did."

He spoke very quickly and pressed his lips together tightly when he was finished, clearly unwilling to disclose any more about the subject.

Naruto didn't blame him; after all, she wasn't ready to talk about the kyuubi yet. They just weren't at that level of trust. But as she looked at her teammates and sensei, Naruto thought for the first time that they may just get there.

"It looks like we're off to a good start," Kakashi said with a smile. "I have a good feeling about you three. Let's meet back up here tomorrow morning at 8. For you guys, I guess I'll show up on time," he added with what Naruto presumed to be a wink. It was hard to tell when he only had one eye showing.

"We'll get some training in until noon, go for lunch, and then get our first mission from Hokage-sama," he explained. "Take the rest of today off and go enjoy it. You won't be getting a lot of downtime from now on."

Kakashi waved them away and then used a jutsu to vanish in a swirl of leaves.

Naruto turned to her teammates, hoping that she wasn't about to sound too desperate. "Do you guys want to get some lunch?" she asked with feigned nonchalance.

To her surprise, Sakura looked genuinely disappointed. Naruto thought that she must have finally broken through her prejudice. "I'm sorry, but I can't. I promised my parents that I would help unload and stock some new merchandise when I was done this afternoon."

"Tomorrow," Sasuke promised with a nod toward Naruto. He turned to head back toward town, lifting a hand in farewell. Naruto thought that he seemed paler than usual.

She bit her lip nervously and decided to ask before her courage failed her. "Do you need an extra pair of hands?"

Sakura startled with surprise. She opened her mouth, but then closed it again thoughtfully. "You know," she said after a moment. "I think my parents would really appreciate that. They should probably get to know my teammates too." Her brow furrowed slightly and she hesitated again.

"Hey, Naruto," Sakura trailed off but then appeared to steel herself. "I'm really sorry about not giving you the bell. I'm not trying to excuse my behavior or anything, but it's really hard to break bad habits. And I've been cruel to you for a long time. I'm trying to be a better person, but it will probably take a little time," she admitted honestly.

Naruto was extremely taken aback. She would have never expected Sakura to be so self-aware; at least, she didn't think it would happen so quickly. "It's okay, Sakura. I'm glad you're even trying," she said with a faint smile.

Sakura frowned at her for a moment, but let whatever was bothering her go. "Come on then. My parents' shop is right along Main."

Smiling nervously, Naruto gestured for the other girl to lead the way. She was relieved that she hadn't been scathingly cut down for offering to help. It wouldn't have been the first time. Naruto thought that maybe this was a sign that Sakura was really beginning to acknowledge her.

They walked through town, chatting stiffly, and Naruto hoped that her teammate didn't notice the villagers' reactions to her. As they drew nearer to the central market area, Naruto startled slightly as it occurred to her that Sakura's parents may be among the civilians who hated her. There was a high possibility that they were—given the pink haired girl's usual attitude—and she didn't want to put Sakura in an awkward position.

Her heart began to pound anxiously as they approached the small shop, which sold books and paper goods. It didn't look familiar, which meant that Naruto had never been evicted from it before. But that also meant that she just hadn't ever visited, not that she was actually welcome.

"Mom, Dad, I'm back!" Sakura called as she entered the store, ducking under the light green noren.

Naruto panicked, reaching out to tug at the sleeve of Sakura's red dress. The other girl poked her head back under the short curtain with a questioning expression.

"I can't," Naruto whispered. "I'm sorry. I just can't."

Then she backed away and fled, ignoring her teammate's confused calls.

She sped through the streets, trying to block out the usual hostility which was more concentrated since she was drawing attention to herself. Ascending the apartment stairs in three giant leaps, Naruto unlocked her door with shaking hands and darted inside. She practically slammed it behind her, locking it and then turning to lean back against the rough wooden surface.

"Idiot!" she scolded bitterly. "What's she going to think now?"

Taking a deep breath, Naruto pushed away from the door and headed straight for the bathroom. A cool shower always helped calm her down when she was upset.

Before she even took two steps, someone knocked on her door. Dread made her heart pound heavily again and she turned back to peer through the peephole, hoping that it wasn't Sakura on the other side of the door. Explaining why she basically had a panic attack was not something she looked forward to.

All she could see was an olive green flak jacket, which was enough to rule out her female teammate. Naruto released a shaky breath in relief and stepped back to open the door.

"Hi sensei," she greeted with a forced smile.

"Is everything alright, Naruto?" Kakashi asked in concern, taking in her pale skin and fragile expression.

"Yeah, I guess. I just flipped out about meeting Sakura's parents and ran away."

The jounin hummed thoughtfully. "I think perhaps that some ramen is in order."

"I don't really want to talk… wait, what?" Naruto blinked in surprise. She had expected him to want to know _why_ she panicked.

"Would you like to go to Ichiraku's?" Kakashi asked pointedly.

Naruto's smile transformed into something more genuine. "Yeah, that sounds good to me," she said, slipping outside and locking the door behind her. "So, why did you really come by?"

Kakashi stuck his hands in his pockets and set a sedate pace toward Teuchi's ramen stand. "Well, Hokage-sama said you had a question for me."

The blonde stumbled at the unexpected response and her cheeks reddened. She never expected the hokage to relay her curiosity and now she felt a little embarrassed to ask the man directly. "How did you know I would be home?" she deflected.

"Hmm, I just followed your chakra signature."

"Oh."

She walked beside her sensei in silence until they reached the ramen bar. After placing her order, she turned to face him and squashed her nerves. He was watching her patiently with a fond smile.

"Jiji said that you specifically requested me for your team." She hesitated and fiddled with her chopsticks. "Why would you do that?"

"What do you know about your parents?" Kakashi asked lightly.

Naruto startled and stared at him, not really sure what her parents had to do with anything. "I know a little about my mom, but I don't anything about my dad," she admitted.

"Hmm, well. I was very close to your parents. Especially your father," the jounin explained, turning on his stool to rest an elbow on the bar. "I'm afraid that I can't tell you much about him. Not yet," he said in response to the blonde's eager expression. "I _can_ tell you that he was a very talented shinobi and he loved your mother very much. He couldn't wait for you to be born."

"What did they look like?" Naruto asked with a small smile.

Kakashi frowned. "Hokage-sama didn't show you any pictures?"

She shook her head negatively and watched as her sensei rummaged through his hip pouch and pulled out a worn book with a plain brown cover. He opened it and flipped through what looked like a stack of soft-edged photographs. When he found the one he was looking for, Kakashi handed it to Naruto. She accepted it with shaking hands.

The photo was of a heavily pregnant woman. She had very long, brilliantly red hair and soft, grey-blue eyes. Naruto touched her mother's face with the tip of her finger, tracing the familiar shape. Kushina was beaming in the picture, hands resting on her large belly.

"Her face looks like mine," Naruto muttered, pleased at the revelation.

Kakashi hummed in agreement. "Your hair and eye color come from your father though. Sometimes you look just like him," he said wistfully.

The conversation paused briefly as Teuchi served their lunch. After a few quick mouthfuls, Naruto tore her eyes away from the photo and turned back toward her sensei. "Do you have any others?" she asked, reluctantly handing the picture back to him.

Kakashi exchanged the photograph for another, his eye crinkling in a smile. "This is the last of Kushina-san without your father in it," he explained, placing his chopsticks in his magically empty bowl. "I can make you a copy of them both, if you like."

"Yes, please," Naruto replied eagerly. She pushed away her bowl and leaned over the photo.

This time, her mother was dressed in a standard jounin uniform, long hair pulled back in a high ponytail. She was standing behind three genin, grinning broadly as she rested her hands on the two boys' heads.

"Are any of her team still around?" she asked hopefully.

"They were killed in a mission. Kushina-san retired after that." Kakashi shook his head. "She was devastated."

"Oh." Naruto felt both sad and disappointed. She searched her mother's team's happy faces, committing them all to memory, before giving the photo back to her sensei. "So you requested me because of my parents?"

"I promised to look after you," Kakashi said. "Although I haven't done a very good job of it so far. I was only a little older than you are when they died. When I found out what happened, I…" he paused and glanced away. "Well, I wasn't in any condition to be looking after a child. I am very sorry for that. I know you haven't had it easy and I should have at least offered you my home."

Naruto picked at the remains of her ramen. "Is that why we've never met before?"

Kakashi winced almost imperceptibly. "There are a few reasons, really. I did check in on you whenever I was able. With a different sort of mask on."

She frowned in confusion for a moment before she made the connection. "You were in ANBU," she exclaimed softly, leaning toward the jounin conspiratorially. "Are you allowed to tell me which mask you wore?"

Her sensei gestured for her to turn her head and he leaned down to whisper in her hear.

"You were the one who took me to jiji!" Naruto gasped. She straightened and grinned at him. "You saved me that day, you know," she teased, hopping down from the stool. "Thanks, sensei, for the ramen and the talk. I feel a lot better now."

"Good," Kakashi replied with a smile. "Then I will see you bright and early tomorrow morning."


	5. Chapter 5

**Note: Thanks for all the love, y'all! By the way, I've based Naruto's ability here with kage bunshin from early canon, specifically where he made a HUGE amount that very first night against Mizuki. There's no trouble with the kyuubi's chakra because my Naruto has never accessed any of it before. The seal is still locked up super tightly! Also, I will be giving her some other techniques, so don't worry about her being a clone spammer. Even when she gets used to the mental strain of multiple clones, she'll realize that it just isn't practical in most team situations to use so many!**

**EDIT NOTE: Okay, guest reviewer, if you want me to change the character tag from Naruto to Naruko, you can just ask without being a complete ass about it.**

* * *

_Chapter 5_

Naruto spent most of the night preparing an apology and plausible explanation for Sakura for literally _running away_ from the prospect of meeting her parents. By morning, she had managed a few uneasy hours of sleep and still wasn't sure how to explain her anxiety without telling the other girl about the kyuubi. She supposed that Sakura didn't really need to know _why_ people didn't like her and finally decided to play dumb about the whole situation for as long as she could.

She dragged her feet getting ready and walked slowly toward the training ground. Naruto was hoping to avoid being with Sakura alone, but to her surprise (and slight irritation) the kunoichi was waiting for her.

Sakura was wringing her hands, distress and shame warring for dominance over her expression and Naruto thought suddenly that maybe the other girl wasn't offended by her swift exit yesterday.

"Naruto, I am so sorry," the pink haired girl said, rushing over to the startled blonde. "After you left, I told my parents that you had offered to help out and the moment I said your name it was like they turned into completely different people." Sakura spoke quickly and tears filled her jade green eyes.

"They were so rude about you and it just made me realize how mean I've been to you all this time. I don't understand why you keep giving me more chances and I definitely don't blame you for leaving. Did you know that they would act that way?"

Naruto took a step back, reeling in shock over Sakura's rushed apology. She felt a sudden rush of sympathy for the other girl. Obviously Sakura had never directly broached the Naruto Subject with her parents and was now completely baffled that they had reacted so negatively. In Naruto's experience, civilian parents were usually fairly subtle when teaching their children to hate her. They didn't want to risk coming anywhere _near_ breaking the hokage's law.

"Well, like I said yesterday… people don't like me," Naruto said haltingly. "And by that, I mean pretty much everyone but a handful of shinobi and my few friends _hate_ me."

"But why?" Sakura exclaimed, reaching for the blonde's hands. She seemed taken aback when Naruto pulled away to avoid the contact but recovered quickly, lacing her fingers together again. "I mean, you could be a little annoying at the Academy, but that was obviously an act since you've been completely different for the last two days. What could you possibly have done to make the whole village act like this?"

"I'm… not ready to talk about that yet," Naruto replied uncomfortably. She clenched her fists behind her back, feeling the anxiety fluttering in her chest ease slightly from the sharp pain of her fingernails piercing her palms. She swallowed dryly, trying not to let Sakura's assumption that she had brought the hatred upon herself hurt her feelings.

"It's not anything that I've done, really. Just something about me that makes people afraid," she said stiffly.

The pink haired girl looked as if she wanted to press for a more satisfying answer, but Naruto's distressed expression must have made her think better of the idea.

"Well, whatever the reason is, I can't believe that you deserve it. I'll make sure my parents understand that there's nothing to worry about. Then you can come by the shop whenever you want," Sakura determined.

Naruto gaped at the other girl, whom she decided must have a weakness for underdogs, as happiness warred with guilt. "Sakura," she choked out. "I can't even say how much that means to me, but please… _please_ don't fight with your parents over me. It's not worth it."

With a sigh, Sakura smiled ruefully. "Okay, Naruto. But it's still not right and I won't let them badmouth you when they've never even met you. You need to be more confident about yourself," she scolded teasingly.

"That goes for you too, then," Naruto replied with a wry chuckle. She turned to the side and stretched her arms out over her head. Her back popped satisfyingly. "Thanks, Sakura. I really appreciate it."

The two girls waited in a comfortable silence until Sasuke arrived. He blinked in surprise at the pleasant atmosphere, but shook it off quickly. They barely had time to exchange greetings before Kakashi showed up in his usual fashion, accompanied again by a swirl of leaves instead of the smoke.

"Good morning, you three!" he greeted cheerfully.

For some reason, Kakashi's happy demeanor sent chills down Naruto's spine. She tensed warily and waited for something horrible to come out of his smiling mouth.

"We'll be starting off with some conditioning this morning and then I want each of you to run through your taijutsu stances and the jutsu you currently have in your arsenal. Let's see," he paused, rubbing his masked chin thoughtfully. "How about you begin with 50 laps around the training ground. The _entire_ training ground."

Naruto gaped at him. It seemed that her instincts were still spot on. Kakashi was going to be brutal.

* * *

Two grueling hours later, the jounin finally relented and allow them a short rest. Even with her ridiculous stamina, Naruto was drenched with sweat. She plucked at her damp clothing with distaste, hating the way it clung to her body, and glanced at her teammates. Both Sakura and Sasuke were exhausted, although the Uchiha was stoically pretending that he wasn't gasping for air.

"Okay, Naruto. Since you are the least tired, let's see your taijutsu," Kakashi instructed as soon as her complexion had returned to its usual hue.

She sighed dramatically, even though the few minutes' rest had very nearly recovered her from the strenuous physical activity, and trotted obediently over to her sensei. Under his watchful eye, Naruto ran through the standard Academy taijutsu stances. Every so often, the jounin would stop her and make a small, but noticeable, adjustment.

"Who was the taijutsu instructor for your class?" Kakashi asked, frowning as he spotted another mistake in Naruto's stance. The corrections seemed minute, but taken as a whole Naruto's technique would have a lot of problems against a more skilled opponent.

"It was Mizuki," Naruto replied shortly. She repeated the corrected kata a dozen times to reinforce the change, imagining the smug silver-haired traitor as her target.

"Ah." Kakashi was well aware of Mizuki's treachery. It wasn't much of a surprise that he would have tried to sabotage Naruto to further his goals. "You still placed 3rd in the taijutsu rankings though, didn't you?"

"That's just because I hit hard, I can take a lot of hits, and nobody at the Academy could outlast me," the blonde admitted sheepishly.

"Those are very good things, Naruto. Don't sell yourself short," Kakashi admonished, frowning at her dismissive tone. "All things considered, your technique isn't that far off. It probably won't take very long before you have the corrections down in your muscle memory. Just be thankful that I don't have to send you to the village taijutsu expert," he added with an exaggerated shudder.

"Who's that?" Naruto asked curiously. She couldn't help wonder who the mysterious expert was and why he would have provoked such a reaction from the usually unflappable jounin.

"Just pray that you never run into the man. Be wary of green spandex," he intoned.

As soon as Naruto finished her last kata, Kakashi stepped back to give her more space. "Okay, let's see your ninjutsu and then I'll test your genjustu ability."

Naruto nodded and quickly ran through two of the Academy basics: henge and kawarimi. She formed a cross shaped seal with her hands and then paused with a slight frown.

"Sensei, how many shadow clones do you want me to make?"

Kakashi hummed thoughtfully. "Why don't you make as many as you can?"

"Okay…"

She wasn't really sure that her sensei knew just what he was asking, but she complied and focused on reaching to the near bottomless depths of her chakra. As a massive amount of blue tinted chakra began to swirl visibly around her, Naruto released the technique.

"Kage bunshin no jutsu," she ground out through clenched teeth as her chakra surged almost painfully through her body.

Hundreds of clones popped into existence, filling the field and beyond, perching on the trees until there were well over a thousand.

Naruto panted lightly from exertion. She had never drawn so heavily on her reserves, not even against Mizuki, who had been doing his best to kill her. Searching curiously for her teammates through the sea of blonde clones, Naruto grinned when she spotted them. They were sporting identical flabbergasted expressions. Sasuke's shock, however, seemed to be colored with foreboding jealousy.

"Well. That as a bit more than I was expecting," Kakashi admitted. His hand moved toward his covered eye, but he paused and scratched his chin instead.

"A bit?" Sakura echoed faintly.

"She did say she could make a thousand," Sasuke muttered irritably. He jerked his head to the side, dark fury written across his features.

Kakashi cleared his throat. "How much usable chakra do you have left? Can you still perform basic ninjutsu?"

"I'm not sure," Naruto replied honestly. "Let me try."

She sent the instruction down the thread of chakra connecting her to the clones and after a moment, they all transformed until the field was filled with copies of her teammates, Kakashi, the hokage, and Iruka. Henge was nearly as easy as breathing for Naruto, which was something she had never understood given her difficulties with bunshin. Both jutsu were classified as genjutsu, since they were illusionary techniques, and neither required much chakra to perform. She had long decided not to question it.

"Looks like henge isn't a problem," Naruto said, currently in the guise of the village leader. She reverted back to herself and the clones followed soon after. "Let's see about kawarimi, then."

She formed two hand seals and switched places with a clone on the far edge of the clearing. There was only a slight flicker and the clone's surprised expression to indicate that she had used the technique. Soon, the horde of Narutos were flickering all over the field as they substituted with each other.

"That's good, very good! Can the original Naruto please come back over here?" Kakashi called over the noise of the clones.

Naruto replaced with one of the kage bunshin near her sensei and waved at him. "I'm here!"

"Go ahead and start dispelling them, but be sure to do it in small groups," the jounin advised. "I'm sure Hokage-sama told you, but shadow clones transfer their memories back to you when dispelled. The mental strain is no laughing matter."

The blonde nodded seriously, having already sat through a lecture from the hokage for mass dispelling the entire group of clones after she took down Mizuki. She formed the cross seal again for focus and began popping clones a dozen at a time. After dispelling a handful of groupings, Naruto staggered slightly and pressed a hand against her forehead.

"That is pretty terrible," she gasped, "and going to take a while to get used to! How in the world did I not get a headache last time?"

Kakashi chuckled, reaching out to place a steadying hand on her shoulder. He aborted the motion half-way, stuffing his hands in his pockets instead.

"It was probably the adrenaline," he suggested. "You'll need to practice dispelling groups of clones so the memory feedback doesn't become a liability in a fight."

It took another twenty minutes for Naruto to dispel the last of her clones. Every few groupings, she had to stop and wait for the chaotic rush of memories to subside enough to continue. By the time she finished, Naruto had a splitting headache and her chakra pathways felt wrung out.

Kakashi directed her to lay down in the cool shade of one of the perimeter trees. He fished a clean cloth out of his hip pouch and handed it to Sakura

"Wet this and place it across her forehead and eyes," the jounin instructed. "It will help with the headache."

"Yes, sensei," Sakura replied.

"Sasuke, you're up." Kakashi gestured for the Uchiha to join him.

* * *

By the time that both Sasuke and Sakura had been examined, Naruto's headache had abated to a faint throb, which faded away to nothing during the break for lunch. Kakashi treated the team to a barbeque restaurant owned by the Akamichi clan. The store was frequented nearly exclusively by shinobi, so there was little chance of Naruto facing any harassment.

"Oi, Naruto," called a familiar voice from within the depths of the restaurant.

She turned curiously and grinned when she recognized Shikamaru and Chouji, who were sitting with Ino and their sensei, Sarutobi Asuma. Naruto had never met the youngest son of the hokage, but she had seen pictures of him in the hokage's office and overheard a lot of praise.

"Hey guys," she greeted, heading toward their table. The rest of her team trailed behind her.

"Kakashi, I can't believe you finally gave in and took a team. Hokage-sama has been asking you for what? Six years now?" Asuma teased good-naturedly.

"Ah well, this year is different," Kakashi replied, eye crinkling in a smile as he ushered his team into the seats at the adjacent table.

"Sasuke-kun, you're welcome to sit with me," Ino simpered. She seemed blissfully aware that there were no empty seats next to her. As usual, her eyes glossed right over Naruto as she switched from batting her eyelashes at Sasuke to glaring at Sakura.

"Leave him alone, Ino-buta," Sakura spat, quickly sitting next to the silent Uchiha.

Naruto rolled her eyes at their territorial behavior and took her seat, twisting around to face her school friends. Shikamaru and Chouji had always been kind to her, even if they had never been able to hang out after school. Unlike most of the girls that had been in their class, they had recognized her gender right from the start.

"I'm glad you guys passed the second test," she said, genuinely happy for them.

"Eh, it was troublesome for sure, but not very difficult," Shikamaru drawled. "Frankly, I'm surprised you managed to work together with those two."

Naruto chuckled lightly. "You know, it wasn't quite as hard as I thought it would be to convince them to work with me. Sakura responds really well to logic and Sasuke to action."

"Forced it on him, did you?" Shikamaru asked wryly.

"You know me so well," Naruto said with a smile. "But honestly, it was actually Sakura's idea to jump in without telling him."

"She's always been pretty smart," Chouji added after swallowing a bite of food. He laid out a generous amount of meat on the grill to cook.

Naruto hummed thoughtfully. "As long as she is thinking clearly, anyway." She gestured toward the other girls, who were leaning aggressively in each other's space and arguing loudly over something to do with Sasuke.

The rest of lunch was a noisy affair. Naruto chatted happily with Shikamaru and Chouji, the two jounin conversed casually, Ino and Sakura continued to fight over Sasuke, who attempted to ignore every single one of them.

"We're going to go get our first mission," Naruto shared excitedly as the last plates were cleared.

"Ah," Asuma cut in before any of his genin could respond, "that's our cue to get back to work. We've done a couple missions already," he explained to Kakashi as he quickly ushered his team out of the booth and through the restaurant.

"What in the world was that about?" Sakura asked, confused by the abrupt exit.

"Yeah, he didn't even let me say goodbye to Shika and Chouji!" Naruto protested, crossing her arms over her chest. She wasn't sure when she would get to see them next, especially since Kakashi was apparently going to keep them busy.

"He's probably just excited to make those kids actually do some work," Kakashi replied vaguely. "We should get going too if we actually want to get a mission today."

He paid for their meal and then led the way to the Hokage Tower.

"Hokage-sama likes to hand out the first genin missions himself, so after today we'll get our assignments from the mission office downstairs," Kakashi explained as they ascended the stairs to the hokage's office.

"Hi jiji," Naruto greeted as they entered the large, round office. She was tempted to circle around the desk to give the old man a hug—he was the only person she allowed such a thing—but thought better of it. They were here on official team business after all.

"Good afternoon, Naruto, Team 7," the hokage replied, humor coloring his voice. He puffed on his pipe and waved them forward. "The other new genin teams beat you for mission choice this morning, so I'm afraid the pickings are rather slim."

"That's no problem, Hokage-sama," Kakashi assured. His visible eye gleamed with anticipation and unholy glee behind the genin's backs. "What do we have to choose from?"

As the hokage withdrew a handful of D-rank missions from his desk, the genin were nearly vibrating with excitement, even Sasuke, who was trying unsuccessfully to hide behind a stoic mask.

"We have three missions left: weed Hanazuka-san's garden, walk the Inuzuka hounds, or repaint the siding on the Academy building."

Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke's jaws dropped simultaneously in outrage and shock.

"What kind of missions are those?" Naruto burst out in frustration, clenching her fists and crossing her arms over her chest stiffly.

"Now, Naruto…" the hokage soothed. He appeared to be fighting back laughter. "Every genin starts off with these missions. There are important lessons buried in each one that are up to you to discover. When Kakashi deems you ready, he can request a C-rank mission."

Naruto opened her mouth to argue—because surely these missions could be completed at the Academy for practice—but was silence by an elbow to her side. She leveled a glare at her pink-haired teammate, who was making covert hushing motions. Naruto rolled her eyes, but let it go. No one ever said that being a shinobi was fun _all_ the time and besides, it wasn't like she couldn't come back to talk to the hokage later.

"I vote for the garden one," she said. "I'm good with plants."

"Anything but the dogs is okay with me," Sakura added, shuddering at the thought of the massive Inuzuka nin-dogs.

Kakashi turned expectantly toward his quietest student. "Sasuke?"

"The garden is fine," he grunted reluctantly. Sasuke didn't look pleased at any of the prospects and Naruto had the sneaking suspicion that he was envisioning the slow painful death of either their teacher or the hokage.

"Hanazuka-san's garden it is!" Kakashi enthused. He cheerfully accepted the appropriate scroll from the hokage.

"Kakashi, come by later this week for a team photo, will you?" Sarutobi asked. "I have an open spot on my desk that needs to be filled."

The jounin smiled at his disgruntled team. "We'll be sure to drop by in the morning while they are still fresh."

"Let's go get this over with," Naruto sighed, swiping the scroll from her sensei. She stiffened as her teammates pressed close behind her to peer are the scroll over her shoulder, but forced herself to stay still.

Hanazuka was a retired shinobi, taken out of action during the Third Shinobi War, which meant that he probably didn't have a reason to hate Naruto like the ninja who were injured on the night the kyuubi broke loose.

"Have fun," the hokage called as team 7 exited the office.

Naruto resisted an unexpected urge to make an ugly gesture when she heard the blatant laughter that followed them out the door.


	6. Chapter 6

**Note: Sorry for the delay, y'all! My life was temporarily consumed with final papers for graduate school. It was a lot of writing and took longer than I originally anticipated! After I got them turned in, I needed a bit of a writing break! Updates should be fairly regular for the next several weeks as I don't start back up again until July. Thanks for being so patient!**

* * *

_Chapter 6_

Team 7 quickly fell into a routine of splitting their day between D-rank missions and intense training. Kakashi was proving to be a masterful sensei, but he wasn't particularly diverse with his training methods, so the days tended to run together.

Naruto mastered the proper taijutsu forms more quickly that even Kakashi had predicted. It was mostly pure stubbornness combined with copious abuse of the kage bunshin. She could outlast both of her teammates in a spar, although she wasn't always in the best shape afterward. Sasuke was much more technically proficient and despite connecting multiple hits, he always wore himself out before Naruto submitted. It irritated the Uchiha to no end, but as Naruto had said on their first day of being a team, she could take a hit and had a truly ridiculous amount of stamina.

Kakashi had quickly put a stop to Sakura's extreme dieting when the pink-haired girl fainted in the middle of conditioning. He gave all three genin a strict nutrition plan when he discovered that Sakura wasn't the only one with poor food habits. Naruto tried to eat well, but her diet wasn't very well balanced. Sasuke was the best of the three when it came to proper food groups, but he tended to forget about meals when left to his own devices. Once they started eating properly, the genin found Kakashi's conditioning to be much more effective.

Team 7 had only been together for about a month before they hit their first obstacle. Their mission for the day was to catch ten baskets of fish from the river for an injured fisherman. As Naruto waded out in the cool water, soft muck squishing between her toes, she really wished they had started water walking already.

Kakashi was a stickler for making sure they properly mastered a technique before moving on, so even though they were all capable of the tree climbing exercise—something that filled Naruto with glee, now that she could travel the rooftops through town—he hadn't started them on the next level yet. The jounin insisted that they all needed to be able to walk on walls as easily as breathing.

Judging from Sasuke's pinched expression and Sakura's muted gasps of disgust, she wasn't the only one wishing they could stand on the surface of the river.

Naruto carefully made her way across the river until the large net she carried was fully extended. They had decided that Naruto and Sasuke would be responsible for keeping the net secure and pulling it back in and Sakura would make sure that the net enclosed properly and divvy the fish out among the baskets. Since it was breeding season, there were copious amounts of fish swimming through the river and the genin hoped that it wouldn't take too long to fill the request.

"Sakura, are there enough fish to come back in yet?" Naruto called. She was starting to sink into the silt and the water lapped at her chin.

"Only if you want to stretch the net back out again," the pink-haired girl yelled back after checking the status of the net.

"That's fine by me," Naruto replied. "If I have to start treading water, we're going to be in trouble."

Under Sakura's guidance, Naruto slowly crossed back over to the other side of the river, keeping a death grip on the woven net. As she got closer to Sasuke, she could feel the fish fighting against the pull of the net and her fingers ached with the strain of holding onto the rough rope.

By the time she and Sasuke were on the river bank, Naruto was panting. The net was probably only half full, but the collective strength of the fish was surprising. Sakura waded toward the middle of the net and started scooping fish into the large baskets. She was taking forever.

"Wouldn't it be a lot faster if I made a few clones?" Naruto grumbled, looping the net over her arm tightly so she could shake out her other hand.

"No shadow clones for D-ranks, Naruto," Kakashi reminded. He was lounging in the shade of a tree, nose stuck in his favorite book.

Naruto sighed and resigned herself to hours more of squishing through the mud and straining against the net. At least the water was cool.

* * *

"That was terrible," Sakura complained as she collapsed onto her knees after finishing the last basket of fish.

Naruto helped Sasuke release the left over fish and then draw the net back up onto shore. "Oh please, you had the easiest job," she muttered.

Sasuke grunted in agreement, frowning at his stiff, chafed fingers.

"I can't help it that I wasn't strong enough to hold the net," Sakura protested. She brushed ineffectively at the shimmering scales liberally decorating her clothing and hair. "I'm going to need to take a bath for a week to get this fish smell out."

Naruto untied the knot of her sash with shaking fingers. Her tunic felt like it had absorbed an outrageous amount of water. She dropped the sash on the ground and slipped off her shirt, leaving her just in her under armor. As she started to wring the water out of her clothing, Sakura suddenly shrieked, startling her badly.

"You're a _girl_?"

The pink haired girl had gotten to her feet and was staring in horror at Naruto.

"Yes?" Naruto drawled uncertainly. She had thought by now that Sakura must have noticed, given the fact that she always used the girl's toilet.

Sakura's face twisted as she vacillated between rage and disbelief. "Why have you been hiding it? Just what are you up to?"

Naruto's brow furrowed. "I haven't been—"

"I can't believe I actually…" the other girl trailed off, clenching her fists angrily. She pressed her lips together tightly and stormed off without another word.

As Sakura passed by with her head turned away, Naruto reached out cautiously.

"Sakura, wait. I promise, I wasn't hiding anything!" Her heart beat wildly in her chest and Naruto felt a sickly chill spread through her veins.

The pink haired girl slapped away Naruto's outstretched hand and leveled a venomous look at her. "Don't touch me, you… you _freak_!"

Naruto cradled her hand to her chest and watched Sakura disappear with wide eyes. She sank to her knees on the soft ground. Her breath was coming too fast and even though her body felt cold, her eyes were burning. Naruto didn't know what to do.

A soft touch on her shoulder startled her out of her downward spiraling thoughts. Naruto jerked away violently and fell to the side, catching herself with one hand planted firmly on the ground. She looked up at Kakashi, who was standing over her with a sympathetic frown.

"Sakura reacted poorly," the jounin said softly. "Don't take her words to heart. I'll talk to her."

Sasuke had approached her as well and stood slightly behind their sensei. His expression had blackened and he still stared in the direction Sakura had fled as if he could still see her.

"You… you knew?" Naruto asked, suddenly feeling exposed in just her under-gear. She shakily wrapped her still sodden top around her torso.

Kakashi crouched to her eye level and smiled. "I knew you were a girl before you were born," he replied. "Even if I hadn't, I can tell just by looking at you."

Naruto wasn't particularly surprised that Kakashi knew her gender. He was the sensei, meaning it was his duty to know these sort of things, and he _had_ said he was a friend of her parents. She shifted her gaze to Sasuke, whose dark eyes settled on her briefly.

"I'm not blind," he said shortly. "People are idiots. _Sakura_ is an idiot."

"I think I'm going to go home," Naruto muttered, suddenly feeling numb. She pushed to her feet, grabbing her fallen sash off the ground and tying it snugly around her waist.

"Be here at 9 tomorrow," Kakashi instructed, visible eye watching her expectantly. "Don't let her sink you back into that hole," he added softly.

"Yes, sensei," she replied, her shoulders slumping slightly. Naruto had been in a bad place when Kakashi, as an ANBU, had dragged her back from beyond the village walls. It took a lot of kindness and patience from the hokage for her to start trusting again. She had learned from a young age to be discerning about who she let in past her defenses and Sakura's harsh words were a huge blow.

In her daze, Naruto forgot to use the rooftops to head home, meandering instead through the streets. The villagers' usual hostility hit her harder than usual; it was like they could sense her vulnerability. By the time she was safe inside her apartment, Naruto was pale and withdrawn.

She shed her damp clothing and took a warm shower, which heated her chilled skin but couldn't reach the ice that seemed to have replaced her blood. Naruto looked at herself intently in the mirror, wondering what it was that made it difficult for people to see her gender.

Her eyes were heavily dilated, leaving only a miniscule ring of blue around her swollen pupils. Naruto didn't think she looked like a boy. She had thick golden eyelashes and a soft mouth. Her bone structure was slightly obscured by baby fat, but she had high cheekbones and a narrow jaw. She never bothered with make-up and didn't do much to her hair, but she couldn't see whatever it was that fooled people.

Naruto turned away from the mirror and got dressed into something warm and comfortable. She crawled into her bed and pulled the blanket up over her head. Exhaustion pressed down upon her and she closed her suddenly aching eyes. Dimly, Naruto knew that she should go find someone to keep her company, but she found that she just didn't care. All she wanted to do was sleep.

* * *

It was 9 o'clock on the dot when Kakashi let himself into Naruto's apartment and pulled away her blankets.

"Naruto, you need to get up now," the jounin said, reaching out to shake the blonde's shoulder. He withdrew his hand only when she peered up at him.

"Sensei, I don't feel like training today," Naruto sighed, closing her eyes again and curling into a ball with her back to her teacher.

"That's unfortunate, but I'm not really giving you an option," Kakashi insisted, jostling her shoulder again. "You'll only feel worse if you keep lying around in bed all day. I know it isn't easy, but you need to keep moving."

Naruto exhaled sharply through her nose, irritation starting to break through the numbness. She sat up reluctantly and leveled a flat stare at her sensei. Her eyes were still dilated, making the glare more effective than it usually would have been.

However, Kakashi didn't budge. "You're going to get dressed, have a bit of breakfast, and then come meet me outside. I'll give you ten minutes before I come back in and then you'll have to train no matter what you're wearing."

The jounin dropped the blanket at the foot of her bed and left the apartment, closing the door gently behind him. Naruto could feel his chakra hovering in the hallway and she gritted her teeth furiously.

How dare he barge in here and make her face Sakura, who thought she was a freak? Didn't he have any compassion?

Naruto reached down, intending to pull the blanket back over her head, but as her fingers touched the soft fabric she paused. Kakashi wouldn't really make her go to training in her pajamas, would he? She chewed her lip indecisively and had the feeling that he would probably drag her down the street if she put up a fight.

With a defeated sigh, Naruto made herself drop the blanket and get out of bed. It took all of her willpower to leave the comfort of her mattress and pull on her clothing. She wasn't hungry at all, but she forced down a piece of toast and a banana.

Kakashi opened the door and peered into her apartment just as Naruto was securing her pouches. He smiled proudly at her and waited until she put on her shoes.

"It'll get easier," he promised.

"How do you know, sensei?" Naruto asked softly, trailing slightly behind him and no longer feeling angry.

The jounin peered back over his shoulder. He had an odd look in his eye that Naruto couldn't decipher. "I tried to sleep away my pain before too," he admitted. "Someone was there to pull me out of it. I'm going to do the same for you."

Naruto's eyes burned and she blinked back the tears stubbornly. She looked down at her feet and swallowed past the lump in her throat, still partially wishing that she was back in bed.

"Thanks, sensei," she whispered.

Neither Kakashi nor Sasuke cut her any slack, despite her obvious withdrawal and lack of enthusiasm. Naruto could hardly bear to look at Sakura, but judging from the silence and the glimpses she got in the corner of her eye, the pink-haired girl was in the same condition.

It took a week before Sakura apologized.

* * *

Ever since the disastrous fishing mission, Kakashi and Sasuke had taken turns collecting Naruto at her apartment. Exactly one week later, Naruto answered her door and felt the bottom of her stomach drop at the sight of Sakura on her doorstep.

The kunoichi was a mess. Her usually neat hair was limp and stringy and her eyes were swollen and red. She twisted her fingers together relentlessly and a livid bruise was blooming across her jawbone.

"Hi, Naruto," she said softly. "Can I… can I come in, please?"

Naruto swallowed reflexively, wishing she was anywhere else in the world right now. Hope fluttered in her chest and she squashed it ruthlessly, not wanting to get burned twice.

She nodded and stepped out of the way, allowing Sakura to enter her apartment. Naruto waited silently, simultaneously speechless and vindictively wanting to make this as difficult as possible for the other girl.

"What I said was unforgivable," Sakura started. As she spoke her words came faster and faster until they were practically spilling out of her. "I panicked. I always thought you were a boy and when I started to get to know you better I saw how sweet you are. And you have no self-confidence at all and I wanted to make you realize that you deserve better than how people treat you and then I noticed how good-looking you are and I started to like you. I mean, _like_ you. So when I saw that you were actually a girl, I panicked, because girls aren't supposed to like other girls, and I took it out on you."

Naruto's jaw dropped in shock somewhere around the middle of Sakura's rushed explanation. The pink-haired girl's face was as bright as her hair with embarrassment.

"If I were you, I don't know that I could ever forgive me for treating you the way I have and it's taken me so long to come talk to you because even though I know it's wrong for girls to like other girls and _I'm_ the freak, not you, I still think you're so nice and you're really very pretty and I just didn't know what to do," Sakura blurted out, twisting her hands in a way that Naruto knew had to be painful. "I'm just… I'm _so sorry_."

Tears started dripping from Sakura's jade green eyes and she looked so genuinely regretful and confused that Naruto felt the cold that been had lodged in her chest for the past seven days melt away.

She reached out and stopped the other girl's viciously twisting fingers. Naruto ignored the uncomfortable sensation of touching someone else and waited until Sakura met her eyes before she pulled back.

"I've been thinking a lot for the past week, and I wasn't sure if I would forgive you even if you did apologize," she said, choosing her words carefully. "You really hurt me, Sakura. It took a lot of effort for me to open up to you guys and you trampled all over my trust."

Sakura sniffed loudly and brought up a reddened hand to scrub at the tears running down her cheeks. "I understand," she choked out and started to turn towards the door.

"I didn't say that I wouldn't forgive you," Naruto spoke quickly. "It's going to take some time, but I really want to be friends with you again."

The pink-haired girl turned back, looking shocked.

"I don't really know what it means to… like someone," Naruto continued, feeling her cheeks heat. "But I do know that I want to know you better and become closer to the whole team. So…" She took a deep breath and let it out shakily. "So I forgive you. Just don't do this again. I can't take a second… betrayal like that."

Sakura let out a sob. "Thank you, thank you so much. I swear I will never do anything like that again." She scrubbed at her face, laughing a little in relief. "I know you don't like being touched, but can I hug you? Please?"

Naruto nodded and steeled herself, but Sakura's hug was brief and surprisingly warm. It wasn't as bad as she thought it would be.

"Let's go meet up with Sasuke and sensei," she suggested, clearing her throat awkwardly. "They'll be glad to know we've made up."

"That sounds great," Sakura agreed with a huge smile.

"Hey, Sakura?"

"Yes, Naruto?"

"How'd you get that bruise on your face?"

"Sasuke-kun and I had a huge fight yesterday."

"Did you get him back?"

"I gave him a black eye."

Naruto burst out laughing and she knew, even though it would take a little time, she and Sakura would be just fine.


	7. Chapter 7

**Note: Thanks for the kind feedback, everyone! I really enjoy hearing your thoughts. This chapter is full of fun team 7 bonding, so enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 7

Naruto stood uncertainly in front of the apartment door. Now that she was here, she was starting to have second thoughts. It was team 7's break day, which Kakashi insisted on to give their muscles and chakra a chance to rest, and Naruto needed some guidance. Her sensei had said that if any of them needed anything, his door was always open, but she wasn't sure if she should bother him. The hokage was in consecutive meetings all day, so her usual source of advice was out.

As she stood deliberating on the doorstep, the choice was taken away from her when the door opened, revealing Kakashi looking at her in surprise.

"Naruto! What can I do for you?" he asked with a gentle smile.

She stared at him for a moment; it was surreal seeing him off duty. The jounin was still sporting his face mask, but instead of his usual long sleeved top and jounin vest he was wearing a form-fitting sleeveless shirt that looked like it was actually connected to the mask. He had a tattoo on his shoulder that Naruto knew was from his time as an ANBU, having seen them before while in the Hokage Tower. The most shocking thing, however, was the absence of his hitai-ate, leaving his left eye exposed.

The eye was closed and bisected vertically with a long, old scar. Naruto wondered when and how the injury had happened. He must not be able to see out of it for him to keep it covered all the time.

Naruto shook herself, remembering that staring was considered rude. "There was something I wanted to talk about," she muttered.

Kakashi looked down at her seriously for a moment before relaxing and stepping out of the way. "Please come in. Would you like some tea?"

"Um, yes, please," Naruto replied, looking curiously around the jounin's home.

It was small and the layout looked similar to her apartment. There was one main room with a kitchenette and a door leading to what she assumed was the bathroom. The bed was unmade and books and scrolls were piled haphazardly on the table next to it.

"Take a seat," Kakashi said, gesturing toward the low table separating the kitchen from the bedroom area.

Naruto left her shoes by the door and sat on one of the cushions around the table, tucking her feet under her. There was more reading material spread across the surface of the table and a notebook covered liberally with writing.

The jounin grabbed a long-sleeved shirt from the top of his dresser and slipped it over his head before padding into the kitchenette. He filled a kettle with water and set it on the stove. "Is green tea okay?" he asked, peering over his shoulder at her.

"Oh yes, I like green tea." Naruto wondered why he put on the other top and if maybe he was feeling as awkward about the situation as she was. She was actually kind of glad that he was wearing closer to his usual outfit; it had thrown her off balance to see him looking so relaxed. While he was busy making tea, she glanced at the books and scrolls on the table.

"I was doing a little planning ahead," Kakashi explained when he noticed where her attention had fallen.

"For us?" Naruto asked, reading the closest scroll to her. It was full of stealth techniques. "Don't you know all this stuff already, sensei?"

Kakashi hummed in agreement. "Sure I do, but I've never had to teach any of this to genin before. You three learn things very differently from each other and from how I learned, so I have to make sure that I can teach in a way for you all to understand."

"Oh," she said, feeling even more unbalanced. She hadn't realized that Kakashi put so much work into deciding how to train them. He was always so confident and knowledgeable that she assumed that he just knew everything. "It's pretty hard being a sensei, isn't it?"

The kettle whistled and Kakashi poured the steaming water into the teapot. "Can you push all that over to one side?"

"Yes, sensei." Naruto carefully piled everything together on one side of the table, clearing space for the tea tray that the jounin set down on the table.

He sat on the cushion to her left and crossed his legs on the cushion. "It can be difficult," he said, pouring two cups of tea. "But so far, it's been worth the extra effort."

Naruto smiled shyly and accepted the tea, blowing across the hot surface before taking a sip.

"Now, what did you want to talk about?" Kakashi loosely wrapped his hands around his cup but didn't drink from it.

She reddened, feeling unprepared for this conversation and wishing that the hokage had been available. Somehow, it seemed a lot more embarrassing talking to Kakashi about this. "Well…" she hesitated and then decided to plunge ahead. "Can two girls like each other?"

Kakashi stared at her incredulously before closing his right eye and bringing up a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. He sighed softly and lowered his hand, opening his eye to look at her calmly. "What brought this on?"

Naruto felt the heat in her cheeks spread to her entire face and knew that she was probably the color of a tomato. "It was something Sakura said," she explained in a tiny voice. "She said that it wasn't okay for girls to like other girls, but I don't understand why. If you like someone, does it really matter what gender they are?"

The jounin rubbed his jaw thoughtfully. "Well, most people would tell you that it does matter. It's… traditional for a man and a woman to be together." He cleared his throat and Naruto could have sworn there was a tinge of red just above the edge of his mask. "However, there are a lot of people who are attracted to the same gender. It may not be the most common relationship, but it isn't forbidden or anything."

"Then why would Sakura say it wasn't okay?" Naruto asked with a frown. She just didn't understand why it even mattered. Obviously there had to be a man and a woman to make babies, but not everyone even wanted children. _She_ certainly didn't want children. Naruto got on well enough with the hokage's grandson, but it was only because he seemed to _want _to be around her. She usually just played along with whatever games he suggested.

"People who aren't attracted to their own gender often don't understand how someone else could be," Kakashi said. He slipped the edge of his mask down far enough to take a long drink of tea before pulling it back into place.

"Sensei, why don't you just take the mask off while you're having tea?" Naruto peered at him curiously. From the glimpse she got, there didn't appear to be anything wrong with his face.

"It's just a habit to wear it, Naruto," the jounin said. He cleared his throat and cupped both hands around his mug. "Anyway, when people don't understand something, they can be cruel. You know that better than most."

Naruto's shoulders hunched slightly and she looked down at her tea cup. She ran a fingertip along the rim. "Yeah, I do know. I just don't really understand," she sighed.

She pushed away her cup from the edge of the table and got to her feet. "Maybe you should stop wearing that mask. You look fine without it."

Kakashi stood and followed her to the door. "Ah, but then no one would know who I am," he replied with a smile.

"That doesn't make any sense, sensei," Naruto deadpanned. She stuffed her feet back in her sandals and moved aside to allow the jounin to open his door.

"Naruto," he said, touching her shoulder briefly before she could leave.

She looked up at him curiously and waited on the doorstep.

"If you find yourself attracted to another girl," Kakashi paused, looking slightly pained, "it's okay, you know. There's nothing wrong with it."

Naruto smiled widely. "Thanks, sensei." She reached out and lightly touched the back of his hand, which was still resting on the door knob, hoping that the gesture conveyed her gratitude. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"You can come back anytime, Naruto," Kakashi called after her.

"I know!" She responded with a grin before hopping to the nearest wall and heading back toward her apartment.

* * *

"Sakura, you aren't a freak," Naruto said seriously when the other girl came by her apartment the next morning.

"What?" Sakura asked, taken aback.

"There's nothing wrong with liking other girls and you shouldn't call yourself a freak. It isn't true," the blonde insisted.

Sakura looked at her oddly for a moment before comprehension lighted her face. "Oh, Naruto, I didn't mean that to imply… it's perfectly fine if you…" she sighed and trailed off. "What I mean is that I'm not attracted to girls, so it was really strange when I found out about you."

"But I am a girl and you started liking me," Naruto said in confusion.

"Yeah, but I _thought_ you were a boy," Sakura stressed. "Look, when I look at girls, I can see whether they're pretty, but there isn't anything else. Do you understand?" At Naruto's baffled expression, she tried to elaborate. "When I see a guy that I like, my stomach gets all twisty—like I'm nervous," she clarified. "I want to do things to impress him and get him to notice me. I don't feel any of that with girls."

Naruto frowned thoughtfully. She still didn't really get what Sakura was talking about and the only times she had ever felt her stomach clench with nerves was when she thought someone was about to be cruel to her. Somehow Naruto didn't think that was what the other girl meant.

"It's a little weird for me right now," Sakura continued, "because I can still see the things that I was starting to like about you, but since I know you're a girl, I don't feel those nerves anymore. I think we're going to be great friends." She seemed to be hinting something.

"That's really all I want," Naruto replied. "I want to be a real team with you and Sasuke and sensei."

"I want that too," the pink haired girl agreed. "I'll tell you, having that fight with Sasuke has kind of made me look at him a little more objectively. I think I want to be friends with him first over anything else."

Naruto burst out into laughter. "I'm sorry," she said at Sakura's confused and indignant frown. "I was just thinking about his black eye again. He kept trying to look so cool and his eye wouldn't even open all the way."

"He did look kind of silly, didn't he?"

* * *

Somehow, the slightly uncomfortable conversation about _feelings_ made the rest of the awkwardness between Sakura and Naruto dissipate. Sasuke was outraged that Naruto had forgiven the other girl so quickly and told her repeatedly (and emphatically) that she should have let her sweat a little. Naruto put up with it as long as she could since she knew that his irritation was on her behalf, but after two weeks, she had had enough.

After Kakashi dismissed them for the day, Naruto discreetly followed Sasuke as he broke off toward his apartment. She looked around eagerly as they passed through the wealthier part of town on the way to the abandoned Uchiha compound. Sasuke lived in an apartment right outside the gates of his old home as if he couldn't bear to be too far away from it.

With a sigh, Sasuke stopped and turned around, his hands stuffed in his pockets. "Why are you following me?"

Naruto rocked back on her heels. "I wanted to talk to you," she said simply.

"About what?" he asked, pulling one hand out of his pocket and waving it impatiently.

"Sakura."

Sasuke scowled and hunched his shoulders slightly. "What about her?"

"Do you really want to have this conversation out here?" Naruto jerked her head toward the villagers around them, some of which were watching them with oddly mixed expressions of curiosity, awe towards Sasuke, and disgust toward Naruto. If she were braver, she would have laughed at how the contradictory emotions had contorted their faces.

"Fine," Sasuke sighed again. "We can go to my house."

Without another word, the Uchiha spun on his heel and started walking again toward his home. Naruto hid a smile at his predictable behavior and followed a few paces behind him. He led her to a small, but beautiful apartment complex. As Naruto peered around curiously, she thought that maybe 'apartment' wasn't the right word. It was more a collection of small houses.

"I thought you said you lived in an apartment," Naruto said, waiting for Sasuke to unlock his front door.

"This is an apartment," he replied.

Rolling her eyes behind his back, she insisted, "I live in an apartment. This is a house."

Sasuke grinned at her over his shoulder, taking her by surprise. "You live in a closet," he teased before disappearing into his home.

Naruto was terribly shocked at his suddenly friendly manner, but she did her best to hide it as she followed him inside. She didn't want to make a big deal out of it and potentially scare him away from being casual with her again. Still, she could hardly believe that he had not only smiled at her, but joked with her as well. It was a good sign.

She closed the sliding door behind her and latched it. Sasuke even had a proper entry way with a genkan. His sandals were lined up neatly on the stone floor, toes pointed toward the door.

"Well, come on," he said, waiting with a hand propped on his waist.

"Yes, yes," Naruto muttered, removing her shoes and stepping up on the cool wood. She followed him into a room on the right which had a round, low table in the middle and bookshelves lining the one of the walls. There was a bit of give under her feet when she entered the room and Naruto looked down curiously.

"Tatami?" she exclaimed excitedly. "You have tatami?"

Ignoring Sasuke's odd look, Naruto inhaled deeply, smiling when she caught the faint smell of barely worn tatami. The mats must have been changed recently; they were still slightly green.

"Your apartment is all wood, isn't it?" Sasuke asked, comprehension lighting his eyes.

"Yeah, and not even very good quality wood either," Naruto replied, taking in the rest of the room while rubbing her toes against the slightly rough tatami.

Sasuke's shelves were full to bursting with books and scrolls and there was a large window on the wall to her right, looking out toward the other small homes, filling the room with soft, natural light. The sunlight would be fading soon, however, so Sasuke switched on a tall lap in the corner of the room.

He opened a small closet opposite the window and withdrew two floor cushions, which he then placed around the table.

"Okay, now what did you want to talk about that needed privacy?" Sasuke raised a delicately shaped brow at her.

"I want you to lay off Sakura," Naruto replied, tucking her feet under her as she sat on the cushion. She rested her arms on the table and leaned toward him. "You don't need to keep punishing her, okay?"

Sasuke's expression darkened. "Why?" He clenched his fist, turning the knuckles white. "Why did you forgive her so easily?"

Naruto sighed. "Does it really matter?"

"She was terrible to you!" Sasuke burst out with uncharacteristic emotion. "She has always been awful to you. Why should she deserve to be forgiven?"

"Why are you so upset?" Naruto asked, baffled by his behavior. "I'm the one she hurt, not you."

The dark-haired boy leaned forward and gripped Naruto's hand tightly. "You can't let her take advantage of you," he said, his eyes wild. "You're too nice, Naruto. People treat you like shit and you keep forgiving them. How do you know Sakura won't do something like this again?"

Naruto stared at Sasuke in shock. He looked so unbalanced and his grip was hard and making her uncomfortable. She tugged at her hand, but he wouldn't let go. "Sasuke, you're kind of scaring me," she said quietly. Her heart pounded in her ears and she wished he would stop touching her.

Sasuke blinked rapidly and looked down to where he was squeezing her hand. He let go quickly and stared blankly at his palm.

"I don't know," Naruto said, breaking the tense silence that had fallen between them. She rubbed at the red marks on her hand where Sasuke's fingers had dug into her skin.

"What?" Sasuke asked, frowning at her.

"I don't know that Sakura won't do that again," she elaborated. "I'm learning how to trust people and that means taking some risks. All I can do is get to know her and be a good friend and hope that she does the same."

"That doesn't make any sense," Sasuke muttered, rubbing at his eyes with the heels of his palms. "What's the point? Why risk getting hurt?"

Naruto wasn't really sure that he was even talking about Sakura anymore, but she felt that she needed to answer. "I don't want to be alone anymore."

Sasuke looked up at her in surprise.

"I've been alone my entire life," Naruto said, tucking her hands in her lap, "and I don't want to be alone anymore. So I would rather risk getting hurt than have to live in a village that hates me with no one to ease that pain."

She glanced out the window at the steadily darkening sky. "Look, you need to let this go. About Sakura. She's apologized and I forgave her. We're never going to be able to work as a team if we can't learn to trust each other. Sensei said that a team that doesn't trust is going to get killed."

Sasuke snorted abruptly. "He's crazy about teamwork, isn't he?"

"Yeah," Naruto agreed with a small smile. Some of the wildness had left Sasuke's eyes and his posture was more relaxed. "I think something terrible happened to his team."

"Maybe." He sighed and rubbed his forehead. "I'll stop ignoring Sakura. You're right that we haven't been working together well. Kakashi will never let us take a C-rank if we don't shape up."

It wasn't the best motivation, Naruto thought, but she would take anything if it meant that Sasuke would finally loosen up and stop glaring at Sakura.

She looked out the window again and frowned when she saw how dark it had gotten. Naruto hated walking through the village at night. People were always more willing to lash out at her if they thought they wouldn't be seen. At least she could take the roofs once she got away from Sasuke's neighborhood.

"I should probably head home," she said, rising to her feet. "Thanks for the talk."

"Hn," Sasuke replied shortly, walking her back to the entrance. "Naruto, maybe you're right about trusting each other, but… be careful," he warned. "You never know if someone's showing you their true face or not."

Naruto looked up at him from the recessed genkan where she had stepped back into her sandals. She was suddenly reminded of what he said right after they had officially become genin.

_"My brother was my hero. I wanted to be like him. He went crazy and killed everyone…"_

A chill shuddered along her spine.

* * *

**Note (again): I love the idea of Kakashi awkwardly explaining things like this to the genin. :)**


End file.
